The Union Cabinet today approved an ordinance to allow courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping children up to 12 years of age.
Official sources said 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.
Minimum punishment in case of rape of women has been increased from rigorous imprisonment of 7 years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment; in case of gang rape of a girl below 12 years, punishment will be life imprisonment or death sentence.
The move comes against the backdrop of the alleged rape and murder of girls in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua and Gujarat's Surat district recently. The rape of a minor in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district had also outraged the nation.
The ordinance would be now sent to the president for his approval.
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