8-month-old rape case: Government Contradicts Demands For Death Penalty, Says it’s Not an Answer to Everything

The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it does not support the idea of amending laws to provide death penalty to those found guilty of sexual assaults on children and infants.

Written by: India.com News Desk Edited by: Rini Sharma

Updated: February 2, 2018, 6:51 AM IST

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https://www.india.com/news/india/government-contradicts-demands-for-death-penalty-to-child-rapists-says-it-is-not-an-answer-to-everything-2874610/ Copy

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New Delhi, Feb 2: The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it does not support the idea of amending laws to provide death penalty to those found guilty of sexual assaults on children and infants. Contradicting popular demands, additional solicitor general PS Narasimha told a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY, hearing the case involving sexual assault on an eight-month-old infant who is now undergoing treatment at Delhi AIIMS, that “death penalty is not an answer to everything”.

Responding to a plea from petitioner advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, Narasimha said the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act provides graded stringent punishment for sexual assault of children. (‘Heartbroken’ With Increasing Number of Child Rapes, DCW Chief Demands Death Penalty)

In the petition, Srivastava had asked for a direction to the government to enact a law providing for capital punishment to child rapists. He demanded fast-tracking of trials in POCSO cases while referring to a National Crime Record Bureau report that said these cases took three years to decide.

“We can’t suggest death penalty, as you are suggesting,” Chief Justice Misra said and sought to know what penalty under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) provided for.

Describing this instant case as “brutal”, the court sought data on the number of cases pending under POCSO, status of their trial, and time taken to complete the trials.

As per the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, punishment for raping a child ranges from  a minimum 10-year term and maximum life imprisonment while the punishment for a minor’s gang rape ranges between a 20-year term and life imprisonment.

The next hearing in the mater will take place on March 12.

Meanwhile, urging the Centre and the State to address the issue of rising rapes of children, the Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) launched a Satyagraha – non-violent protest – on January 31.  DCW chief Swati Maliwal has announced that she and her team will not be going back home for the next 30 days and will work day and night to mark their protest.