President signs ordinance to Permit death penalty to child rapists

(File Image)

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday signed an ordinance to allow death penalty for convicts of rape of girls below 12 years of age, News Agency PTI reported. The Union Cabinet had approved the ordinance on Saturday.

Also Read: Quicker Trials, Probe In Government Death For Child Rapists Ordinance: 10 Facts

An ordinance comes into effect immediately but lapses if it does not get the approval of both Houses of Parliament within six weeks after the next session begins. The Parliament will meet next for the Monsoon Session.

The government made the decision during an emergency Cabinet meeting in the backdrop of outrage against the rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district in January.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Women and Child Development had told the Supreme Court that it has started the process of introducing capital punishment for those convicted of raping girls below 12. This contradicted the government’s stand in February, when it had told the Supreme Court in response to a plea that the “death penalty is not an answer for everything”.

(With Inputs From News Agency PTI)

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