'Jail women for adultery': Bahrain MP

Manama  : A parliamentary proposal calling for punishing women, who commit adultery to five years of imprisonment, was submitted to the Council’s Speaker yesterday.

The proposal calls for amending the existing Penal Code. 

According to the presenters of the proposal, “it aims at introducing deterrent punishment for women aged between 16 and 21 who voluntarily commit adultery.”

The main presenter, MP Mohammed Al Maarifi, said in a statement, “The law proposal aims at amending certain articles in the Penal Code.”

He called for amending Article 345 of the Penal Code, which states, “A prison sentence for a period not exceeding 20 years shall be the punishment for any person, who has sexual intercourse with a female, who is aged more than fourteen years but has not reached the age of sixteen years, with her consent. A prison sentence of no more than 10 years shall be the sentence for any person, who has sexual intercourse with a female, who is more than sixteen years but less than twenty one years, with her consent.”

Al Maarifi demanded adding the phrase “females should be punished with a period of no more than five years if they have sexual intercourse with her consent”.

According to the MP, this would criminalise females aged between 16 and 21 for voluntarily committing adultery and would equalise crimes between genders.

“The existing law only criminalises men, even if they were under the age of 21. The new amendment would be deterrent for women aged between the age of 16 and 21 who voluntarily have forbidden  sexual intercourse,” Al Maarifi added.

The proposal would be referred to the concerned committee in the council before it could be voted on by the remaining MPs.