In a show of great urgency, the Center today approved of an Ordinance to amend the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to include death penalty for rape of children below the age of 12.
The move comes in the wake of huge public outrage over the Kathua rape-and-murder case where the victim was an 8-year-old minor.
After the case of the eight-year-old Kathua victim, other instances, such as the rape and murder of a nine-year-old in Surat, apparently a victim of traffickers, added urgency to the government’s action.
The rape of a minor in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district had also shaken the nation at the same time.
The Ordinance would be now sent to the President for his approval.
According to senior officials in the Ministry of Women and Child Development, “Since the Parliament is not in session and considering the urgency of the situation, we have decided to bring an ordinance to implement the changes in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012”.
Presently under the POCSO Act, the maximum punishment for aggravated assault on minors is life in jail. The minimum sentence is seven years in jail.