Govt to add death penalty for rape of boys under 12

NEWDELHI: Less than a week after the Criminal Law (Amendment) ordinance, 2018 — which provides for death penalty for those convicted of raping girl below 12 years — was promulgated, the Union women and child development (WCD) ministry is set to move t he Cabinet seeking approval for the same punishment for those guilty of sexually abusing young boys of the same age, two senior government officials familiar with the matter said.

The April 22 ordinance amended Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that deals with rape. It also changed Section 42 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act, a special legislation enacted in 2012 to address sexual offences committed against those below 18 years of age, to say that newly amended IPC section would apply to children below 12 years of age.

But while POCSO is genderneutral, the amended Section 376 mentions the word “woman”. This meant that those guilty of raping boys below the age of 12 years old would not be subject to the death penalty provision.

“It resulted in an anomaly

where the same crime committed against a girl and a boy is treated differently. The ordinance that was brought in to punish those raping girls less than 12 years contradicts the spirit of POCSO, which is gender-neutral,” one of the officials cited above said on condition of anonymity.

To correct this, the WCD ministry has finalised the proposal to amend sections 4, 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act, which will make rape committed against “any child” below 12 punishable with the death penalty.