5-member HC panel to review new law on death for child rape

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court Tuesday constituted a five-member committee to examine the punishment and death sentencing in sexual assault cases against women and children, and suggest preventive measures.

A bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and justice C Hari Shankar said that the committee would look into the issue and suggest preventive measures to control such crimes and appropriate sentencing for the convicts. It said there was an urgent need to prevent sexual violence as it remarked: “reformation of convicts is the need of the society”.

The court’s order and remarks comes while hearing two pleas by an NGO challenging the Criminal Laws (Amendment), 2018, which provides for death penalty for rapists of girls below 12 years of age, and others stringent panel provisions for rape.

The committee will comprise of advocate Vrinda Bhandari, Vidya Reddy from TULIR, which is an organisation working in the field of child sexual abuse in India, Swagata Raha from Centre for Child and Law, NLSIU. All these persons are experts in their field and have been working on the ground level.

The names were accepted by the court after they were suggested by the court appointed amicus curiae Aparna Chandra. Besides, the court also appointed Charu Wali Khanna, counsel for the petitioner as the convener of the committee. It directed the counsel for the centre to consider the remuneration for the members of the committee.

The pleas had claimed that the Justice J S Verma Committee, set up after the Nirbhaya gangrape case, had said death penalty would be a regressive step.

“Capital punishment is neither solution nor deterrence for in a plethora of judgements the Supreme Court has commuted death penalty to lower sentence on grounds of age and circumstances,” the plea had contended.

The matter would be now heard on August 16.