Centre approves Ordinance on Death Penalty for rape of minors below 12

The Union government today cleared an ordinance to amend the existing laws allowing the Courts to award death penalty for rape of children below the age of 12..The minimum punishment awarded in case of rape of a girl below the age of 16 has now been increased from 10 to 20 years and may extend up to a life term, reports ANI..This ordinance was passed today at a meeting of the Union Cabinet presided over by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi..The ordinance will seek to amend Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Indian Evidence Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, according to reports by News18..This ordinance comes in the wake of rising sexual crimes against children particularly when there has been a growing outrage against the brutal case of rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Kathua which took place earlier this year..The need to have stricter punishment for rape of minors have also been raised in a PIL filed before the Supreme Court by Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava. The PIL was listed yesterday before a Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud when the Centre told the Court that it has already initiated the process for amending the POCSO Act to make death penalty the punishment for rape of children below 12 years..Read Centre’s response submitted to the Supreme Court in response to the PIL:.Read the Ordinance