India poised to introduce death penalty for child rapists

APD NEWS

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The Indian government has moved to impose the death penalty for people convicted of raping a child under the age of 12 to combat a rise in crimes involving sexual violence.

An ordinance was approved by prime minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet and sent to the president for approval, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The ordinance will require the approval of parliament within six months to become law. But in the meantime, suspects can be prosecuted using the ordinance.

The move follows widespread outrage over the recent rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in the state of Jammu-Kashmir, the alleged rape of a girl by a ruling party MP in the state of Uttar Pradesh and several other rape cases involving girls in the country.

Many protesters expressed particular anger at India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party for initially siding with the accused in the Jammu-Kashmir case. The victim was a Muslim and the accused are Hindus.

At least nine suspects, including an MP from the ruling Bharatiya Janata party and four police officials, have been arrested in the two recent cases in the Jammu-Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh states.

Violent crime against women has been increasing in India despite tough laws enacted in 2013. In 2012, the fatal gang rape of a young woman in New Delhi led to mass protests to demand stricter rape laws.

The laws doubled prison terms for rapists to 20 years and criminalised voyeurism, stalking and trafficking of women. Indian MPs also voted to lower the age at which a person can be tried as an adult for serious crimes from 18 to 16.

Abha Singh, a lawyer, said the new ordinance would deter men from committing crimes against women. But she urged the government to set a timeframe for bringing suspects to justice as Indian courts are notorious for long delays, with more than 30 million cases pending.

Singh added that the conviction rate in rape cases in India was just 28%, meaning 72 out of 100 perpetrators were going unpunished.

(THE GUARDIAN)