Amendment comes after Kathua rape and murder, but amendment and act not applicable to JK
The Union Cabinet on Saturday approved an ordinance to allow courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping children up to 12 years of age.
Official sources said here that the criminal law amendment ordinance seeks to amend the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Evidence Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to introduce a new provision to sentence convicts of such crimes punishment of death.
The move comes against the backdrop of the rape and murder of girls in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua and Gujarat’s Surat district recently. The rape of a minor in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district had also outraged India. The ordinance would be now sent to the President for his approval.
This is an amendment to the existing POCSO act. But the act is not applicable in Jammu and Kashmir where the crime has been committed, and hence the amendment does not have an effect as far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerenced.
