The Delhi High Court asked the Centre on Monday, 23 April, if it had done any research or scientific assessment before coming out with an ordinance to award death penalty for rape of girls below the age of 12.
The High Court was dealing with an old PIL that challenged the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2013, in which a penal provision – minimum of seven years jail term – for a rape convict was included and the court's discretion to award less than that was taken away.
Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar asked the government:
Did you carry out any study, any scientific assessment that death penalty is a deterrent to rape? Have you thought of the consequences to the victim? How many offenders would allow their victims to survive now that rape and murder have the same punishment.
The Union Cabinet, on Saturday, 21 April, cleared the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2018, which proposes stringent punishments, ranging from a minimum of 20 years to life term or death, for rape of girls under the age of 12.
President Ram Nath Kovind approved the ordinance for changes in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Evidence Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
If the victim is less than 16 years and more than 12 years, the ordinance increased the minimum punishment from 10 years to 20 years. The maximum punishment has been set at life imprisonment.
The Centre's decision came in the wake of a nationwide outrage over cases of sexual assault and murder of minors in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Surat in Gujarat, and the rape of a girl in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.
The High Court said the government was “not even looking at the root cause” or “educating people” as the offenders are often found to be below the age of 18 years, and in majority of the cases, the perpetrator is someone from the family or known to them.
It further questioned whether any victims were asked what they want before coming out with the ordinance.
The observations came after the bench was informed about the ordinance during the hearing of a PIL, which sought to strike down the amendments made in the rape law after the 16 December 2012 gang-rape of a 23-year-old women in the national capital.
The plea by academician Madhu Purnima Kishwar has claimed that the amendments to the law related to sexual offences is being abused in practice.
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