Stricter law that may send child rapists to the gallows
NEW DELHI: The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which provides for stringent punishment including the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years, will be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament beginning July 18, officials said on Tuesday.
The amendment bill, once approved by Parliament, will replace the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated on April 21, following an outcry over the rape and murder of a minor girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and the rape of another woman in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.
The Home Ministry has prepared the draft Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill and the Union Cabinet is expected to give its nod to the draft bill soon, a Home Ministry official said.
The proposed bill stipulates stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape, particularly of girls below 12 years. The death sentence has been provided for rapists of girls under 12 years, the official said.
The minimum punishment in case of rape of women has been increased from the rigorous imprisonment of seven years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment.
According to the draft bill, 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 convicts’ “natural life”.
The punishment for the gang-rape of a girl below 16 years will invariably be imprisonment for the rest of life of the convict, another official 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. The gangrape of a girl under 12 years of age will invite punishment of jail term for the rest of
life or death, it said. The measure also provides for speedy investigations and trial. The time limit for the investigation of all cases of rape has been prescribed, which has to be mandatorily completed within two months.
The deadline for the completion of the trial in all rape cases will be two months. 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. 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.
In a related development, the Law Ministry has come up with a proposal to set up “special” fast track courts across India to try rape cases as part of a larger scheme to strengthen the infrastructure for better investigation and swift prosecution in such cases.
Following discussions with the Home Secretary, the Department of Justice in the Law Ministry has prepared a draft scheme for setting up of “special fast-track courts” to try rape cases.
NEW DELHI: The Law Ministry has come up with a proposal to set up “special” fast track courts across India to try rape cases as part of a larger scheme to strengthen infrastructure for better investigation and swift prosecution in such cases.
Following discussions with the Home Secretary, the Department of Justice in the Law Ministry has prepared a draft scheme for setting up of “special fast track courts” to try rape cases.
On June 14, the department had informed the Cabinet Secretary that the draft is ready and awaiting approval of the Law Minister.
The new scheme is part of an ordinance recently promulgated to allow courts to award the death penalty to those convicted of raping children aged up to 12 years.
The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Ordinance amended the IPC, the CRPC, the Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
While bringing out the ordinance, the government had decided to frame a scheme to set up an “appropriate” number of fast track courts to try rape cases in the states.
The scheme will include components including strengthening of the physical infrastructure and prosecution machinery, provision of the required number of judicial officers for lower courts, additional posts of public prosecutors, dedicated investigators and special forensic kits.
The proposal is expected to come up shortly before the Cabinet.
In April, the government had issued an ordinance to provide stringent punishment, including death, for those convicted of raping minors up to the age of 12 years, amid a nationwide outrage over cases of sexual assault and the 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.
It stipulates stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape, particularly of girls below 16 and 12 years. The death sentence has been provided for rapists of girls under 12 years.
The minimum punishment in the case of rape of women has been increased from a rigorous imprisonment of seven years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment.
The measure also provides for speedy investigation and trial. The time limit for investigation of all cases of rape has been prescribed and has to be now completed within two months.
The deadline for the completion of trial in all rape cases will be two months, officials said. A six-month time limit for the disposal of appeals in rape cases has also been prescribed.
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.
Dedicated manpower will be provided for investigation of rape cases in a time-bound manner.
Special forensic labs exclusively for rape cases would also come up in each state.