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Seeing the rage over rapes of children in the country, the Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday approved the promulgation of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 for Death to child rapists.
Government said it has taken serious note of incidents of rape in various parts of the country. While expressing deep anguish over such incidents, it has been decided to devise a comprehensive response to deal with the situation.
In view of the urgency and seriousness of the issue, the Cabinet approved an Ordinance to be promulgated to provide for stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape particularly of girls below 16 years age and below 12 years of age.
Death penalty has been provided for rapists of girls below 12 years of age.
It has also been decided to put in place a number of measures for speedy investigation and trial of rape cases.
The Ordinance will now be sent to the President for his approval.
Salient features
Some of the salient features of the Law include -- minimum punishment in case of rape of women has been increased 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 investigation and trial, the government has suggested time limit for investigation of all cases of rape, which has to be mandatorily completed within two months. Time limit for completion of trial of all rape cases has also been prescribed and it has to be necessarily completed in two months and six months’ time limit for disposal of appeals in rape cases has also been prescribed.
Restrictions on bail
It has been prescribed that there will be no provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gang rape of a girl under 16 years. It has also been provided that court has to give notice of 15 days to Public Prosecutor and the representative of the victim before deciding bail applications in case of rape of a girl under 16 years of age.
Other Measures
New Fast Track Courts will be set up in consultation with States/UTs and High Courts; Creation of new posts of public prosecutors and related infrastructure in consultation with States/UTs; Special forensic kits for rape cases to all Police Stations and hospitals; and National Crime Records Bureau will maintain a national database and profile of sexual offenders.
This data will be regularly shared with States/UTs for tracking, monitoring and investigation, including verification of antecedents by police, it added.
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