Hry cabinet okays death for raping girls aged up to 12

CHANDIGARH : The Haryana cabinet on Tuesday gave its nod to a proposal to bring in a legislation that would have a provision of awarding death penalty to those guilty of raping girls aged 12 years or less.

The decision comes in the wake of recent spurt in incidents of sexual violence in the state against minors that led to widespread outrage, putting the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government on backfoot.

An official spokesperson said the cabinet decided to amend Sections 376A, 376D, 354 and 354 D(2) of the IPC.

“The amendment (Section 376AA) would mean death penalty or rigorous imprisonment of not less than 14 years extending to life imprisonment for those convicted of raping or gang-raping a girl up to 12 years,’’ the spokesperson said.

The government will table an amendment bill in the upcoming session of the state assembly and after its passage it will have to seek the President’s assent.

Another provision approved is under Section 376D A of the IPC, where a girl up to 12 years is raped by one or more persons constituting a group, each of those persons shall be deemed to have committed the offence of rape and will be punished with death or rigorous imprisonment for a term which will not be less than 20 years, but which may extend to life along with a fine. Such a fine shall be just and reasonable to meet the medical expenses and rehabilitation of the victim.

Another amendment (Section 354) would now entail that whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which will not be less than two years but may extend up to seven years.