India to sentence child rapists to death

World

Published: 2018-04-21 21:14

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 07:46


Photo from Indian demonstrations against child raping
Photo from Indian demonstrations against child raping

The Indian government has approved a law that imposes the death penalty for criminals convicted of raping children under the age of 12, after a rise in sexual attacks on children, according to the Guardian.

The Press Trust of India news agency said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet has approved the law, and that the approval was sent to the President.

The new regulation will need six months to become a law, but suspects can be prosecuted according to the ordinance for the meantime.

The step came after widespread outrage over several cases of child rape, most notably the recent rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in the state of Jammu-Kashmir, in which more than eight suspects were arrested, including an MP from the Bharatiya Janata party and four police officials.

Since then, many protestors stood up to the Indian ruling Hindu Nationalist party for initially standing with the convict in the Jammu-Kashmir case, because he was Hindu and the victim was Muslim.

Stricter laws were passed in 2013 in favor of women, after an increase in violent sexual crimes against women, such as the young woman who was raped by a gang in New Delhi in 2012, and whose rape led to mass protests in the country.