Keeping in mind the uproar over the recent rapes of minors in the nation, the Union Cabinet has approved the promulgation of an ordinance to allow courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping children up to 12 years of age.
Official sources said in New Delhi that the criminal law amendment ordinance seeks to amend the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Evidence Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to introduce a new provision to sentence convicts of such crimes punishment of death.
Until now, the minimum punishment for such heinous crimes was seven years in jail and the maximum was a life-term.
The move comes after the outrage caused by the nation due to the rape and murder of minor girls in Kathua and Surat district recently. But even while the Cabinet led by PM Narendra Modi was meeting on Saturday morning to discuss the issue, the rape and murder of a four-month-old infant in Indore sent fresh disturbance across the country.
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