Justifying the legislature's decision to provide death penalty for repeat offence of rape, the Union Government on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that rape laws had been amended in 2013 to introduce a powerful deterrent against such crimes.

The Centre made the submission before a bench hearing writ petitions filed by the three convicts in the Shakti Mills gangrape case here challenging the constitutional validity of the death sentence awarded to them by the trial court in 2014.

Arguing on behalf of the Union, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh told the high court that the IPC Section 376, that comprise the penal provisions for the offence of rape, had been amended following much deliberation.

None of the provisions introduced through the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, was unconstitutional, he noted.

"An act of rape is a very serious offence for even when it is non-homicidal, it doesn't merely cause physical harm to the victim, but, it affects her soul and her personality too," Singh said.

"In most instances, because of the stigma attached to the offence of rape, victims do not come forward to register a case.

"Therefore, considering that it is the state's duty not just to punish, but also to prevent a crime, the new, stricter provisions governing the offence of rape were introduced in 2013," he said.

Singh was arguing before the bench of justices B P Dharamadhikari and Revati Mohite-Dere that is hearing the writ petitions filed by the three convicts — Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Salim Ansari.

The convicts, through their counsel Yug Chaudhry, had argued on the previous hearing that the death sentence awarded to them violated their fundamental right to life.