Cabinet set to make child rapes punishable with death

The Union Cabinet will take up two draft ordinances, one of which would prescribe capital punishment to those convicted of raping children below the age of 12. The other ordinance would deal with provisionally attaching the property of suspected economic offenders who have left the country to escape trial.

The move to seek the death penalty in rape cases in which children are the victims comes in the wake of a nation-wide outrage post the Kathua and Unnao rape cases. On Friday three more such instances were reported from Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Odisha.

The ordinance pertaining to the economic offenders comes in the wake of the likes of Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya fleeing the country in order to avoid trial. Both these persons had fled the country while leaving behind crores of Rupees worth of debt.

The Cabinet has decided to take up this matter on an urgent basis since the Parliament is not in session. There is an urgency involved and hence the Cabinet is meeting on Saturday to amend the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, officials said.