Death for raping minors, says govt
CONSIDERATION Centre tells SC that it will amend POCSO Act to punish those who abuse children under 12 yrs The ministry is proposing to amend the POCSO Act, 2012, for introducing death penalty for the abuser in cases of aggravated sexual assault against children.
ANAND PRAKASH, deputy secretary in the ministry of women and child development
Amid countrywide outrage over the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Friday that the process to amend the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has started and death penalty as a punishment would be included in the special legislation for rape of minors below 12 years of age.
AdditionalsolicitorgeneralPS Narasimha placed before a bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra a letter written to him by the deputy secretary of the Union ministry of women and child development Anand Prakash, saying the amendment of the law is under active consideration.
“The ministry is proposing to amend the POCSO Act, 2012, for introducing death penalty for the abuser in cases of aggravated sexual assault against children,” the letter read. “The ministry is sensitive to the plight of young children brutally abused in the most horrific manner.”
The court adjourned the case to April 27.
The court is hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, seeking maximum sentence of the death penalty to those found guilty of raping and murdering children between the ages of 0 to 12.
Union minister of women and child development Maneka Gandhi had last week asked her department to work on a proposal to amend the POCSO law. This was after details surfaced of the brutal gang rape and murder of the eight-year-old minor in Kathua.
Srivastava had filed a petition in Supreme Court last month, drawing its attention to the rape of an eight-month-old baby girl who was allegedly raped by her cousin in north-west Delhi in January earlier this year.
The petition asked for ₹10 lakh compensation for the victim and also sought framing of guidelines that investigation and trial of the cases under POCSO (pertaining to the rape of children below 12 years) be completed within six months from the date of registration of a first information report (FIR). The Centre, on February 1, 2018, told the court that the death penalty was not the answer for every child sex abuse case and that graded penalties for graded offences have been provided under the POCSO Act, 2012.
NEWDELHI: