Prez signs ordinance to award death for rape of girls below 12 years

April 22, 2018 10:42

President Ram Nath Kovind has signed an ordinance to provide stringent punishment, including death penalty, for those convicted of rape of girls below 12 years.

Yesterday, The Union cabinet approved the ordinance amid a nation-wide outrage over cases of sexual assault and murder of minors in Kathua and Surat and the rape of a girl in Unnao.

New fast-track courts will be set up to deal with such cases and special forensic kits for rape cases will be given to all police stations and hospitals in the long term, according to the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance cleared by a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It stipulates stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape, particularly of girls below 16 and 12 years.

Death sentence has been provided for rapists of girls under 12 years, officials said quoting the ordinance.

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.

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