Union Cabinet Clears Ordinance on Death Penalty to Child Rapists

Updated: Apr 21, 2018, 15:24 IST

HIGHLIGHTS

The ordinance comes in the wake of outrage over the brutal rape and murder of a minor in Kathua, Jammu & Kashmir
It will now be sent to the President for approval.

NEW DELHI: In the wake of outrage over the brutal rape and murder of a minor in Kathua, Jammu & Kashmir, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday approved an ordinance to allow courts to pronounce the death penalty to those convicted of raping children up to 12 years of age.
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 to death.

Today's ordinance approved by the Cabinet also prescribes the minimum punishment in case of rape of women to increase from rigorous imprisonment of 7 years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment. In case of rape of a girl under 16 years, minimum punishment has been increased from 10 years to 20 years, extendable to imprisonment for rest of life, which means imprisonment till that person’s natural life.
For speedy trial of rape cases, new fast track courts will be set up in consultation with States/UTs and High Courts.

The ordinance also prescribes that there will be no provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gang rape of a girl under 16 years.
The ordinance is being initiated to enforce the amendment immediately before a bill is introduced and passed by Parliament. After the case of the eight-year-old Kathua victim, other instances, such as in Surat where a nine-year-old was raped and killed, have added urgency to the government’s actions.

The ordinance would be now sent to the President for his approval.
Existing provisions of the POCSO Act provide for life imprisonment, though after the Nirbhaya case in 2012 the Centre had introduced the death penalty in cases where a woman either dies or is left in a vegetative state after rape.

Recently, four states passed laws making the rape of a minor punishable by death.

The Cabinet meet follows the Centre informing the Supreme Court on Friday that it proposed to amend POCSO to provide for the death penalty for aggravated sexual assaults on children below 12.
(With inputs from agencies)

Original Article

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State help desk in Delhi soon for trafficking victims

RANCHI: The state will set up an integrated centre at Jharkhand Bhavan in Delhi for the first time that will function as a help desk for trafficked victims rescued in the Capital.

Mridula Sinha, principal secretary in the social welfare woman and child development department, said, "We will form a team that will be sent to Jharkhand Bhavan. The plan is to make the office of the resident commissioner at Jharkhand Bhavan the controlling authority when it comes to taking custody of rescued children."

Sinha said once the centre becomes fully functional, rescued women and children would be kept in Jharkhand Bhavan till the team found their families. "The team will also coordinate with NGOs, the Delhi government, child welfare committees, police and all the stakeholders when it comes to rescue and rehabilitation of victims from Jharkhand," she added.

The centre will also maintain a data of all the girls of Jharkhand going to Delhi or being rescued.

The department has already sent child development project officer Kala Nath to Delhi as nodal officer earlier this week. "There is a plan to launch a helpline number as well so that people in need can contact us for immediate action."

This apart, the social welfare department is also planning a centre in Ranchi where rescued girls can be brought, counselled and given a place to stay till their families are located.

"Right now we do not have a strong sector for handling trafficking cases and things are done randomly but now we are proposing a strong and robust sector to deal specifically with such cases. Once a proper stable system is formed, we will have a better idea of what is going on, how to deal with the problem and how to track down the missing children from Jharkhand," Sinha said.

Explaining how the integrated centre would bring a change, Rishi Kant, a Delhi-based social activist working against human trafficking, said, "Earlier, it used to take months or even years to send the rescued children home but now this centre will help in facilitating immediate repatriation of the children."

"Jharkhand is the first state to depute a government official to Delhi to deal with such cases and it is a welcome step by the Raghubar Das government and it shows that the state has now become serious about the problem of trafficking," he added. 

Source: Times Of India

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