Death for child rapists soon As of now, Pocso only provides life imprisonment

Amidst nation-wide outrage over a steep rise in the number of reported sexual offences against minors, the Centre informed the Supreme Court on Friday that the government will amend the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act 2012 to provide for the death penalty in cases of aggravated sexual assault or rape of minors.

Attorney General K.K. Venugopal made this submission before a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud during a hearing on a writ petition filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, seeking expeditious disposal of rape and sexual assault cases and imposition of death penalty on offenders.

At the last hearing, the court had asked the AG to consider whether the Parliament would amend the law to provide for death penalty to rapists of minors.

On Friday, the AG informed the court that the section of the petition seeking a maximum sentence of death for rape of children up to 12 is under the active consideration of the ministry of women and child development.

The AG said the ministry is “sensitive to the plight of children abused in the most horrific manner”, and it is proposing to amend the Pocso Act to introduce the death penalty for such offences. As of now, the Pocso Act only provides a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

Counsel brought to the notice of the court that of the one lakh-plus cases registered under Pocso, only 11,000 had been disposed of. He also pleaded for the death penalty for those who sexually assault children in the wake of the recent rape of an eight-month-old infant by a youth in Delhi.

In his petition, Srivastava has also sought an urgent framing of guidelines regarding the investigation and trial of the rape of children aged between 0 and 12 years, to ensure they are completed within six months from the date of filing the FIR.