Bill passed to provide death to child rape convicts

Parliament on Monday passed a stringent legislation prescribing death penalty to those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years and making the law against such sexual offences harsher.

The Bill replaces the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated on April 21, following an outcry over the rape and murder of a minor girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and the rape of another woman at Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2018, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on July 30, was approved by a voice vote in the Upper House.

While replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju assured the House that the concerns and issues raised by the members would be looked into by the government, even as he did not agree with the demand of several MPs to send the bill to a select committee for scrutiny.

Terming the bill as one of national importance, Rijiju said the law is aimed at providing safety to minor girls as he highlighted various aspects of the measure.

He said the government brought the bill, as in the last few months, several heart-rending incidents of rape of under-aged girls have taken place in the country.

Rijiju said four states had already brought a law in their respective Assemblies for capital punishment those who commit rape against the girl child who is under the age of 12. The states are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.