China amends law to make 'male rape' a crime

The revised law has also repealed sex with underage prostitutes as the crime and reclassified it as rape


Ians November 01, 2015
Till Sunday, it was difficult to file cases involving male sexual assault as the law did not did not recognise it as a crime. PHOTO COURTESY: INDIAN EXPRESS

BEIJING: Amending laws on sexual assault, China has now criminalised 'male rape' and will punish offenders with minimum of five years in jail.

The previous law included only women, making it difficult for the male victims to pursue legal action in case of sexual assault.

The amendment has been passed by the top legislature, Xinhua news agency reported.

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In 2010, a security guard sexually abused his male colleague in the employee dormitory. Instead of being charged with sexual assault, the offender was convicted on the lesser charge of intentional injury and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

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The revised law has also repealed sex with underage prostitutes as the crime and reclassified it as rape.

As under the previous law, people face a maximum of 15 years in prison for sex with prostitutes less than 14 years old, and those convicted of raping a child may be sentenced to death sentence.

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