Amidst nationwide outrage and shock over the rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu & Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said her family should get justice even as the Union Minister for women and Child development Maneka Gandhi sought her department to work on a proposal to amend the POCSO law to bring in the provision of death penalty for the rape of a minor below the age of 12 years.
With the horrific crime against the minor shaking countrymen and opposition accusing the Government of keeping silence, the Home Minister said he has spoken to BJP President Amit Shah and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on the issue.
“The victim’s family should get justice,” Singh told reporters when asked about the case.
Maneka, meanwhile, sought to have the highest punishment to the child rapists. Deeply perturbed by the horrific rape and murder in the Jammu region , she said she has asked her department to work on a proposal to amend the POCSO Act to bring in the provision of death penalty for the rape of a minor below the age of 12 years.
She has now proposed that rape of any child below the age of 12 years could lead to the death penalty.
In the present Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, there is no provision for capital punishment with the maximum sentence being life imprisonment for penetrative sexual assault as well aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
“I have been deeply, deeply disturbed by the rape case in Kathua and all the recent rape cases that have happened on children. I and the (women and child development) ministry intend to bring an amendment to the POCSO Act asking for death penalty for rape of children below 12 years,” Maneka said.
The rape of the minor has sent shock waves throughout the country with public demanding capital punishment to the offenders.
The case has led to opposition Congress to carry out a night protest in Delhi.