A CID inspector of Telangana has been booked under Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013, popularly known as Nirbhaya Act, for sending objectionable contents including messages and pictures to a woman over social media. This incident comes less than a month after a district public relations officer of the state was booked under the same Act for allegedly harassing a woman officer.

In December 2012, a 23-year-old student was brutally gang-raped and tortured in Delhi and later succumbed to her injuries. Uproar followed the incident in the capital and the parliament was compelled to introduce stricter laws to deal with sex crimes against women.
Under the new laws, the definition of rape has also been expanded to include forced penetration, oral, vaginal or anal, with any foreign object. Moreover, a person can be booked for stalking and voyeurism and can be punished with seven years of imprisonment.

Following the enactment of the law in 2013, a number of complaints of sexual harassments have poured in. On March 31, a youth in Hyderabad was booked for allegedly sneaking into a girl’s bathroom and trying to sexually assault her. In the same month, the son of a state minister in Telangana was booked for misbehaving with a woman. Under the new laws, police and other public servants can be booked if they fail to take action following complaints from women. This amendment was introduced as many victims protested that police would not act on their complaints if the assaulter was an influential person.

The new offences also include hospitals refusing to treat sexual assault victims, a person in authority sexually abusing a woman, unwanted sexual advances, sexually coloured remarks, acid attack and attempt at acid attack.