Vadodara: Provision of death penalty for raping minors below 12 years of age will deter such heinous crimes in the country. This is what union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi said here on Saturday during her visit to the city.
It was on Friday that the union minister while expressing her anguish over the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in the Jammu region, had first made her views public by proposing to amend the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to bring in the provision of death penalty for rape of minors below the age of 12 years.
On Saturday, the union minister, who was the chief guest at the 15th FGI Awards for Excellence ceremony, stressed that such a provision will deter crime against minors.
“After we introduced the amendment (in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act) through which the age for trial was lowered from 18 years to 16 years, there is a significant decline in number of such cases as the law itself has acted as a deterrent,” Gandhi said while talking to media persons.
“Earlier, children below the age of 18 were being used as a tool by gangs and even terrorists who would lure such children in heinous crimes. I believe that amendments to the POSCO Act with provision for death penalty will certainly deter such crime against minors,” she said.
During her speech, the minister also hinted that all mobile phones in future will have the facility of ‘panic button’ which will be a step to ensure safety and security of women in times of distress.
“We are already testing the feature on mobile phones in Uttar Pradesh on pilot basis. There were some delays but hopefully, we will be able to clear all the hurdles,” she said, adding that the Department of Telecommunications made it mandatory for mobile phone manufacturers to provide panic buttons in cell phones.
Detailing out the schemes and steps that her ministry has taken, Gandhi also warned that companies that do not have proper sexual harassment committees in places may also face closure.
“We had recently received a small study on the status of women working in industries and the study suggests that 87% women staffers face some or another form of harassment in the first year of their job. We are very clear on this front. If companies don’t act, they can be shut down,” she said.
Maneka Gandhi at 15th FGI Awards for Excellence ceremony