Cabinet okays Ordinance for death penalty for raping girls below 12
NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Saturday approved an ordinance to provide stringent punishment, including death penalty, for those convicted of rape of girls below 12 years, amid a nationwide 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, they said.
In case of rape of a girl under 16 years, the minimum punishment has been increased from 10 years to 20 years, extendable to imprisonment for rest of life, which means jail term till the convict’s “natural life”. The punishment for gang rape of a girl below 16 years will invariably be imprisonment for the rest of life of the convict, the officials said.
Stringent punishment for rape of a girl under 12 years has been provided with the minimum jail term being 20 years which may go up to life in prison or death sentence, they said. The Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Evidence Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act will stand amended once the ordinance is promulgated after the approval of President Ram Nath Kovind, they said.
The measure also provides for speedy investigation and trial. The time limit for investigation of all cases of rape has been prescribed, which has to be mandatorily completed within two months. The deadline for the completion of trial in all rape cases will be two months, the officials said. A six-month time limit for the disposal of appeals in rape cases has also been prescribed.
There will also be no provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gang rape of a girl under 16 years, the officials said. It has also been prescribed that a court has to give notice of 15 days to a public prosecutor and
the representative of the victim before deciding bail applications in case of rape of a girl under 16 years of age.
Enhancing the powers of the judiciary to provide stringent punishment in rape cases, the Cabinet approved a number of measures, such as strengthening the prosecution, besides setting up new fast-track courts in consultation with the states and high courts concerned. New posts of public prosecutors will be created and special forensic kits for rape cases given to all police stations and hospitals in the long term, the officials said.