Cabinet gives approval to POCSO act amendment seeking death penalty for rapists
The proposal of giving death sentence to the convicted criminals has got central cabinet approval. This decision was taken at the Central Cabinet meeting on Saturday at the Prime Minister’s residence. Now the government will bring an ordinance for it. Approval of amendment in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses, ie POCSO Act, in the Cabinet meeting, cleared the way for the death sentence of raped convicts guilty of committing the offense with children below 12 years of age.
In Kathua of Jammu and in Uttar Pradesh’s Eta, the incidents of rape with minor girls have shaken the country, after which the government has decided to make strict provision for rape of minor girls. Earlier, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi had said that she is very sad due to the incidents of the recent rapeand her ministry will soon introduce a proposal to amend the POCSO Act to the cabinet.
At present, there is no provision for death penalty for the guilty. A day before the cabinet meeting, the Central Government had given a letter in response to a PIL in the Supreme Court saying that it has started the process of amending the POCSO Act, under which rape of girls below 12 years of age there will be a provision for the death penalty.
The next hearing of this case will be on April 27 in the Supreme Court. Since the incident of rape and subsequent assassination of an eight-year-old innocent girl in Kathua, demand for hanging for such a crime has been rising. When Union Minister Maneka Gandhi said about this proposal, she got support from all sides.
Rahul Gandhi also tweeted the attention of the Prime Minister on tweeting about the growing incidents of rape against minors. In his tweet, Rahul Gandhi had said that only in 2016, 19,675 cases of rape were reported to be against minor girls. He had said that Prime Minister should take measures to give justice to the victims by speedy hearing in these cases.
Two days ago, Maneka Gandhi had written a letter to the Chief Ministers of all the states asking them to create a special cell to deal with sexual harassment. In a letter written to the Chief Ministers and the Union Territory’s Lt Governor, Maneka Gandhi had said that in order to collect such evidence, there should be special training of the people of the police and the forensic lab should be established in the States, which will not save the guilty. And they could be punished fast.
