Rajasthan Passes Bill to Hang Rapists of Girls Below 12 Years Old

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. 

(Photo: Reuters)

The Rajasthan assembly on Friday, 9 March, passed the amendment bill for death penalty for the culprits in rape cases involving girls below 12 years of age, making it the second state after Madhya Pradesh to do so, reported ANI.

The bill was tabled in the assembly on Tuesday, 6 March.

According to The Indian Express, The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2018, seeks to add section 376-AA in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which will be defined as: “Punishment for rape on a woman up to twelve years of age. Whoever commits rape on a woman up to twelve years of age shall be punished with death, or rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than fourteen years but which may extend to imprisonment for life which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s natural life, and shall also be liable to fine”.

A similar provision, 376-DD, will be added for gangrape.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, in February’s Budget Session, had announced that the state government will bring in more stringent punishment including capital punishment, for rape of girls below 12 years, reported The Indian Express.

Rajasthan is the second state after Madhya Pradesh to pass such a bill in December 2017. After the bill was passed, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, as quoted by PTI had said, “People who rape innocent 12-year-old girls are not humans but devils. Such people have no right to live.”

According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) report released in December 2017, Rajasthan ranked 5th in the country in 2016 for crimes against women with over 3,600 cases of rape being reported.

(With inputs from ANI, PTI and The Indian Express)