Rajasthan passes bill giving death penalty for rape of girls up to 12 years old

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan assembly passed an amendment bill on Friday that makes rape or gang-rape of a girl up to 12 years of age an offence punishable with death. The state is now the country’s second, after Madhya Pradesh, where rape or gang-rape of minor girls is a capital offence.

Through the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2018, the state government has added two sections to the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, in an effort to check rising heinous crimes against minor girls by provisioning harsher punishments.

The new section 376-AA, added to IPC, says that whoever commits rape on a “woman” up to 12 years of age shall be punished with death or rigorous imprisonment for not less than 14 years and shall also be liable to fine. The jail term may extend for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that convict’s life.

Similarly, another section, 376-DD, added to the IPC, says that if a “woman” up to 12 years of age is gangraped, each person constituting that gang shall be deemed to have committed rape and shall be punished with death, or rigorous imprisonment for not less than 20 years and shall be liable to fine. For this offence, too, the jail term may be extended for the remainder of the convicts’ natural lives.

Home minister Gulab Chand Kataria told the assembly that in the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association versus Union of India case, the apex court expressed concern about rising cases of child abuse and rape and hoped that Parliament would bring in appropriate legislation urgently. “Parliament is yet to bring in such legislation, though Madhya Pradesh has passed a similar bill which is pending with the President. We have not made much change in the bill,” said Kataria.

He elaborated that while IPC Sections 376-A and 376-D included women of all ages, the new sections, 376-AA and 376-DD, separate girl victims up to 12 years from the older women victims.

‘Need to protect minor girls from heinous crimes’

“We have also extended the punishment up to the death penalty. Rape of minors is a heinous crime and shakes the human conscience,” Kataria said.

The “objects and reasons” for the amendment bill read, “State government is of the considered view that to protect the girl child up to 12 years of age from such heinous crimes, adeterrent punishment which may extend to the death of the offender should be provided for.”

Clarifying legislators’ queries during the debate on the bill, the home minister said the use of the word “woman” instead of “girl” was in continuation of the original IPC Act of 1860 and that the words were interchangeable.