Press. Voanews.
The Indian
cabinet has approved the death penalty for convicted rapists of children under
the age of 12 to stem a worrying rise in violent crime against young girls and
women. The emergency executive order was
announced on Saturday following a meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi in the wake of nationwide outrage over the brutal gang rape and murder of
an eight-year-old girl and other rape cases of minor girls.
It lays out more
stringent punishment for rapists, enhancing minimum prison terms from 10 to 20
years for the rape of a girl below 16 and from seven to 10 years for older
women. Suspects can be prosecuted in
court using the ordinance after it is signed by the president. But it must be
approved by parliament to become law.
The move to
introduce the death penalty is seen as an effort to signal the government's
commitment to fight crimes against young girls and even infants as it comes
under mounting criticism for not doing enough to tackle what some call India's
epidemic of sexual violence. The
document approving the new measures said that "While expressing deep
anguish over such incidents, it has been decided to devise a comprehensive
response to deal with the situation."
The government
order also said more fast track courts will be set up for speedy trials and set
a two-month time limit on investigations. Indian cities in the past week saw
street protests by agonized citizens after details emerged about the horrific
gang rape of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in Kashmir in January, who was
kidnapped, drugged, raped for days and then murdered. Anger grew because Hindu
activists had demonstrated in support of the eight arrested men who are now
being tried in a fast track court.
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