Maharashtra House Passes Bill To Protect Acid Attack Victims' Identities, Criminalise Online Sexual Overtures

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill 2026, which includes provisions in the Shakti Bill to protect the identities of acid attack victims and ensure jail term for online sexual overtures.

Tabling the bill, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis highlighted the similarities between the BNS and the Shakti Bill. While provisions for keeping a victim's identity confidential in rape cases already exist, the Shakti Bill had explicitly stipulated that the identity of victims of acid attacks must also be kept confidential. Since this specific provision was absent from the BNS, a distinct new provision is now being introduced to protect the identity of acid attack survivors.

Furthermore, a provision is being introduced to classify the defamation of women on social media platforms as a 'sexual offence'. While necessary amendments to this effect have been proposed, efforts have been made through this initiative to incorporate such acts into the various categories of rape and outraging women's modesty.

Accordingly, a new amendment has now been introduced, which criminalises acts like sending obscene messages via phone, email, social media, or other digital platforms; creating real or morphed photos/videos of a woman's body and uploading them, or threatening to do so.

Meanwhile, legislators from the Opposition parties suggested that the bill should also incorporate provisions aimed at ensuring justice for men. The legislators urged that, without any misconception, the legislation be considered from a 'gender-neutral' perspective.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav stated, "It is essential to have laws aimed at delivering justice for women, and we fully support these amendments. However, it is equally important to establish a robust mechanism to ensure men are also given equal justice. Various reports indicate that the rate of suicides among men has accelerated to an alarming level due to the injustices they face."

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Chandra Pawar) MLA Jitendra Awhad raised the issue of the laws being misused. "A complaint regarding an incident of rape which occurred in 2017, is registered in 2025, and the police accept it simply because the law permits it. However, it is expected that in such cases, there should be a certain time limit, as well as a requirement for concrete evidence, such as a medical examination. This is because, at times, the possibility of the law being exploited cannot be ruled out," he added.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh was of the view that further action should be taken only after verifying and authenticating crimes reported through digital or electronic media.

In a positive note, Fadnavis said, "Using any law as a weapon is wrong and is certainly not intended. Numerous instances of the misuse of the law have come to light, which even the Supreme Court has condemned in strong terms."

He added that the suggestions recommended by the legislators would be given due consideration. "An assessment would be made to determine whether necessary amendments could be incorporated," he said.

The Shakti Bill, incorporating provisions for stringent punishments, was passed unanimously in 2020 by the House under the leadership of the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray during the MVA tenure. However, the President returned the bill, citing reasons that certain provisions were inconsistent with constitutional rights and that there was a potential for overlap with the existing Union laws.

Subsequently, the Centre enacted the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which includes stringent provisions against atrocities against women. Following this, the state had constituted a committee chaired by the director general of police to conduct a detailed comparative analysis of the Shakti Bill and the BNS.

The committee's report clarified that, except for just two sections of the Shakti Act, all other provisions had already been included in the BNS.

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