August 6,2018:
On Monday, Parliament passed the stringent legislation prescribing Death Penalty to those convicted of Raping girls below age of 12 years and making law against such Sexual Offences harsher.
Bill replaces Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated on April 21, following an outcry over Rape and Murder of a minor girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Rape of another woman at Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.
Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2018, which was passed in Lok Sabha on July 30, was approved by a voice vote in Upper House.
While replying to a debate in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju assured the House that concerns and issues raised by members would be looked into by Government, even as he did not agree with demand of several MPs to send Bill to a Select Committee for scrutiny.
Terming the bill as one of national importance, Rijiju stated that Law is aimed at providing safety to the minor girls as he highlighted various aspects of measure.
He stated that Government brought Bill, as in the last few months, several heart-rending incidents of rape of under- aged girls have taken place in the country.
Rijiju added that Four States had already brought a law in their respective Assemblies for Capital Punishment those who commit rape against the Girl Child who are under age of 12. The States are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.
Bill stipulates stringent punishment for the perpetrators of Rape, particularly of girls below 12 years.
Death sentence has been provided for Rapists of girls under 12 years.
Minimum punishment in the cases of Rape of women has been increased from rigorous imprisonment of seven years to 10 years.
According to the bill, in case of rape of a girl under 16 years, the minimum punishment has been increased from 10 to 20 years, extendable to imprisonment for rest of life, which means jail term till the convict’s “natural life”.
Stringent punishment for rape of a girl under 12 years has been provided with the minimum jail term being 20 years which may go up to life in prison or death sentence. Gangrape of a girl under 12 years of age will invite punishment of jail term for the rest of life or death.
Bill provides for speedy investigations and trial. The time limit for investigation of all cases of rape has been prescribed, which has to be mandatorily completed within two months.
Deadline for the completion of trial in all rape cases will be two months. A six-month time limit for the disposal of appeals in rape cases has also been prescribed, the bill says, adding that there will also be no provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gangrape of a girl under 16 years.
Source Hindustan Times
Picture Source :
