A single-stage liquid propulsion rocket, equipped with a crew module and crew escape system, lifted off from Sriharikota on Saturday.

The payloads later splashed into the sea as planned, a development that was welcomed with loud cheers at the mission control centre.

“After the successful launch of the Chandrayaan-3, our nation is ready to take its next giant stride in the realm of space. Today the @isro launched #Gaganyaan’s TV-D1 Test Flight into space scripting another remarkable space odyssey.

“My heartfelt congratulations to our scientists and our citizens on this momentous occasion of success and fulfilment,” Shah said in a post on X.

The Gaganyaan programme aims to send humans into space on a Low Earth Orbit of 400 km for three days and bring them back safely to Earth.

The test vehicle mission was aimed at studying the safety of the crew module and crew escape system in bringing astronauts back to Earth in the eventual mission.

The committee will be headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind and will have Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and former Finance Commission chairman N K Singh as members.

The panel, which will commence functioning immediately and make recommendations at the earliest, will also have former Lok Sabha Secrertary General Subhash C Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari as members.

Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee as a special invitee, while Legal Affairs Secretary Niten Chandra will be secretary to the panel.

The committee will examine and recommend specific amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act and any other laws and rules which would require amendments for the purpose of holding simultaneous elections.

It will also examine and recommend, if the amendments to the Constitution would require ratification by the States.

The committee will also analyse and recommend possible solutions to scenarios such as hung House, adoption of no-confidence motion, or defection or any such other event in case of simultaneous elections.

The committee will hear and entertain all persons, representations and communications which in its opinion can facilitate its work and enable it to finalise its recommendations.

“Crime against women and many social problems faced by them have been addressed in this bill. For the first time, intercourse with women under the false promise of marriage, employment, promotion and false identity will amount to a crime,” he said.

While courts have dealt with cases of women claiming rape on the basis of breach of promise of marriage, there is no specific provision for this in the IPC.

The Bill, which will now be examined by a Standing Committee, states: “Whoever, by deceitful means or making by promise to marry to a woman without any intention of fulfilling the same, and has sexual intercourse with her, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine.” It further states that “deceitful means” shall include the false promise of employment or promotion, inducement or “marrying after suppressing identity”.

Senior criminal lawyer Shilpi Jain told PTI that in the absence of such a provision, cases were not regarded as a crime and were open to a lot of interpretation from both sides. While some saw the specific provision about “marrying after suppressing identity” being targeted at cases of interfaith marriages under false names, Jain told PTI that would be open to interpretation.

The key point here is that consent of the victim taken under false pretence cannot be termed voluntary, she said.

“Women are being exploited in our country by men who have sex with them after promising them marriage and it’s an offence if men at the time of making the promise had no intention to marry,” she was quoted as saying.

According to Jain, clubbing false promise of marriage with promise of employment or promotion in this provision may not be the right way to go forward.

“Promise to marry cannot be equated with promise of employment/ promotion because promise of marriage is based on love, trust, while promise of employment/ promotion are benefits which women are accepting in return for sex. It’s a relationship of mutual benefit.

“When a woman knows what she is getting into — that is sex for employment or promotion — then it is not under deceitful or false promise,” she said.

Other facts

The proposed Bill makes the crime of voyeurism gender-neutral with a punishment of three to seven years.

In all cases of gang rape, there will be a punishment of 20 years to life imprisonment or imprisonment for the remainder of the convicted person’s natural life.

In case of rape of girls less than 18 years of age, the punishment will be death.

Murder will invite a death sentence or life imprisonment.

If a woman dies after the rape or it causes the woman to be in a persistent vegetative state, the convict shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s natural life, or with death.

Whoever commits rape on a girl under 12 years of age shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s natural life, and with fine or with death.

If a police officer or public servant or member of the armed forces commits rape, he shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 10 years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life.