Death penalty call for child rapists after girl, 8, is killed

INDIA’S women’s minister yesterday called for the death penalty for child rapists as nationwide outrage mounted over the gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl.

Demonstrations were held in New Delhi and other cities as details emerged of the killing of the Muslim girl, who was repeatedly raped while held for five days in the city of Kathua in Jammu, including at a Hindu temple.

“I have been deeply, deeply disturbed by the rape case in Kathua and all the recent rape cases that have happened on children,” Maneka Gandhi, the women and children’s minister, said in a Twitter video message. Ms Gandhi said her ministry would seek an amendment to India’s Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, “asking for the death penalty for rape on children below 12 years”.

The January killing has shaken the country in a way reminiscent of the fatal gang rape of a Delhi student on a bus in 2012. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition Congress party, led a candlelight march on Thursday to the India Gate monument in Delhi to highlight the “unimaginable brutality” of the latest killing.

“Like millions of Indians my heart hurts,” Mr Gandhi said at the midnight rally. “India simply cannot continue to treat its women the way it does.”

Eight people have been arrested over the killing, including four police officers and a minor. All are Hindus.