The State Women Rights Commission and the State Child Rights Commission hailed the order of Uttarakhand High Court in which it asked the State Government to enact a law in three months to give capital punishment to all who are pronounced guilty for raping minor girls. The members of the two commissions lauded the court for its initiative to curb cases of minor rapes the number of which is spiralling in the state. They further said that the state government should enact such a law immediately as it would prove a deterrent to the heinous crime.
Speaking on the matter, the chairperson of the state women commission Sarojani Kaintura said that cases on rape and murder of minor girls are rising alarmingly in the state. “The time has come when some drastic measures should be taken to curb them with a heavy hand. The High Court’s order is a laudable initiative in this direction and we are sure that the state government would act on it without the least delay. If such a law as stressed on by the court is enacted it would definitely prove a deterrent and stop many minor girls from being raped and murdered by the criminals,” she said.
Echoing the same sentiment, head of Uttarakhand Commission for Protection of Child Rights (UCPCR) Yogendra Khanduri said that the time warrants a stringent law which would not spare any of the guilty from the gallows. “Making capital punishment a must for such criminals as stressed by the high court is the need of the hour. The sooner the state government acts on it the better,” he said.
A college student Sonia said that death sentence is the only punishment a criminal who rapes a minor deserves. “The state must act with them with the same ruthlessness as the one with which they commit such crimes,” she said.