Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2018 Passed in Lok Sabha

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which provides for stringent punishment including the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years, has been passed in the Lok Sabha.

New Delhi, July 30: The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which provides for stringent punishment including the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years, has been passed in the Lok Sabha. The demand for a death penalty had escalated after an eight-year-old was gang-raped in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir and the rape of a woman in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh.

The amendment bill will now replace the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated on April 21. The proposed bill stipulates stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape, particularly of girls below 12 years. Death sentence has been provided for rapists of girls under 12 years, the official had said before its introduction in the Lok Sabha. The bill will now be sent to the Rajya Sabha

The new provisions also “proposes that cour, where rape cases are trialed, should be presided by a woman judge. Statement in rape cases should be recorded by a woman police officer,” Kiren Rijiju said in Lok Sabha. The deadline for the completion of a trial in all rape cases has been set for two months and a six-month time limit has been prescribed for the disposal of appeals in rape cases.

New provision proposes that court where rape cases are trialed should be presided by a woman judge. Statement in rape cases should be recorded by a woman police officer: Kiren Rijiju in Lok Sabha during discussion on The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2018. #MonsoonSession pic.twitter.com/GmLSMvG1k9

— ANI (@ANI) July 30, 2018

The minimum punishment in case of rape of women has been increased from rigorous imprisonment of seven years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment in the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill. Punishment for the rape of a girl below the age of 16 has been increased from 10 years to 20 years, extendable to imprisonment for rest of life, which means jail term till the convicts’ “natural life”.

The punishment for the gang-rape of a girl below 16 years will invariably be imprisonment for the rest of life of the convict, another official said. The gang rape of a girl under 12 years of age will invite punishment of jail term for the rest of life or death, the bill said.

With agency inputs