'POCSO convicts should be denied mercy petition right'

The President Ram Nath Kovind, on Friday, said that rape convicts under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act should not be allowed to file a mercy petition.

While addressing the National Convention on Empowerment of Women for Social Transformation at the headquarters of Brahma Kumaris in Rajasthan's Mount Abu, Kovind said, "Rape convicts under the POCSO Act should have no right to file mercy petition. In the constitution there is mercy petition for such convicts, I believe that the one should rethink on this. Such convicts don't need such types of rights". He said that this depends on the Parliament because a constitutional amendment needs to be done on this.

He added, "Women's safety is a very serious issue. The incidents of demonic attacks on girls shake the conscience of the country. It is the responsibility of every parent to instil among boys the feeling of respect for women".

Stating that there is a need to do more in this direction, Kovind said, "A lot of work has been done but still there is a lot that remains to be done. The incidents of rapes have conscience of the country,” President Kovind said while addressing the National Convention on Empowerment of Women for Social Transformation in Rajasthan’s Sirohi.

The President spoke on the importance of education and financial empowerment for women while remembering B R Ambedkar on his death anniversary.

"It is true that when you make a boy educated, it gives benefit to one family but when you make a girl educated, its benefit goes to two families. Another important fact is that the children of an educated woman do not remain uneducated," he said.

He said that there has been an improvement in child sex ratio due to women development centric schemes and Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have been honoured for the improvement.

"I have been informed that an improvement of nearly 35 points is child sex ratio is there in Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. This is an important social change. Birth of 1003 daughters per 1000 sons in Rajasthan's Banswara district is a good thing,” he said.

"This year, for the present Lok Sabha, election of 78 women MP is an achievement for our society. In rural India, more than 10 lakh women through Panchayti Raj Institutions are also playing their role effectively,” he said.

(With inputs from PTI)