RTSat, 21 Apr 2018 15:27 UTC
© Abbas Idrees / Global Look PressDemonstration Against The Rape and murder of Kashmiri girl, India. 21 Apr 2018.
India's Union Cabinet has approved the death penalty for convicted rapists of minors below the age of 12, following mounting pressure on the government. India has been swept by protests over two cases of brutal rape.
Headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union Cabinet passed an executive order to amend the criminal code during an emergency meeting on Saturday. Those convicted of molesting children under 12 will face the death penalty, and offenders who rape children under the age of 16 will also face stricter punishment.
The minimum sentence will be doubled, from 10 years to 20, according to the Times of India. The amendment also seeks to introduce longer prison sentences for raping women, increasing the minimum from seven years to 10 years up to life in prison.
The move follows a wave of nationwide demonstrations after the horrific details of child sexual abuse emerged recently. In one crime, an eight-year-old Muslim girl from Jammu and Kashmir state was kidnapped and gang raped for several days before being killed at a Hindu temple. Eight men, including four policemen, have been charged in the case.
Another incident that triggered outrage across the country involves a state lawmaker from Modi's BJP party, who was accused of raping a teenage girl last year. The victim tried to set herself on fire after claiming that police refused to register her case.
Protesters have been demanding justice for rape victims, and some of the protests have
turned violent. Clashes broke out between demonstrators and security forces in the city of Sopore, where dozens of students came out to protest this week.
Following the protests, Modi
said that
"no offender will be spared," promising justice to the victims.
Comment: From
The Times of India:
The Union Cabinet cleared a stringent ordinance on Saturday providing for lengthy jail terms and even the death penalty for sex offenders convicted for raping girls below the age of 12 years while the punishment for the gang rape of a victim below 16 will be imprisonment for life.
The ordinance sets out life sentences for the entire natural life of a convict and rules out anticipatory bail for rape or gang rape of a girl less than 16 years while also providing a two-month time frame for investigation and the same for trial. The ordinance also outlines plans for specialised forensic labs and rape investigation kits for police stations to ensure evidence is gathered and analysed speedily.
The Cabinet met within hours of the PM's return from a tour of Sweden and the UK and after he reviewed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 intended to provide "effective deterrence" against the offence of rape and to instil a feeling of security among women and young girls.
Official sources said the government took serious note of the incidents of rape in various parts of the country and framed a comprehensive response that includes tough sentences and time-bound trials.
The PM returned to Delhi around 8.30am and the Cabinet met at 11.30am to deliberate on the ordinance in the backdrop of nationwide outrage over the Kathua rapemurder of a minor.
The ordinance is the second occasion in recent years when laws on crimes against women have been scrutinised and sentences made tougher after the rape-murder of a young physiotherapy student in Delhi in 2012. The "Nirbhaya case" had led to the inclusion of specific offences and a review of sentencing.
The urgent meeting of the Cabinet seems to have been prompted by criticism that crimes against women are rising and, in the Kathua case, the perception that BJP was slow to dissociate itself from protests in support of the accused and that the case had been given a communal turn.
The ordinance follows Modi's comments in Delhi last week and then in the UK that there should be no politics over rape.
The ordinance states that the minimum punishment for the rape of a girl below 16 years will be increased from 10 years to 20 years, extendable to imprisonment for the entire lifetime of an offender - till the end of a convict's "natural life".
Punishment for the gang rape of a girl below 16 years will mandatorily be imprisonment for the rest of the life of the convict/s.
The minimum punishment in case of rape of women has been increased from rigorous imprisonment of seven years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment.
After the Nirbhaya case, the death sentence was included in cases of sexual assault where the victim dies or is reduced to a vegetative state. The ordinance prescribes a six-month time limit for the disposal of appeals in rape cases and also puts restrictions on bail for the accused.
These laws come on the heels of horrifying cases of rape in India:
Comment: From The Times of India: These laws come on the heels of horrifying cases of rape in India: