National portal to enlist all sexual offenders

In order to check crimes against women and children, the Union Government has initiated a move to enlist all sexual offenders in a national database and asked the State Government to extend support.

The national database will not be open to public. Only law enforcement agencies will be able to access it, said sources.

At a meeting held through videoconferencing, Union Home Secretary Raijv Gauba asked Home ACS Asit Tripathy to ensure all prisons are linked to the national portal.

Now, ADGP Prisons Vinayand Jha has chalked out an action plan under the State Government’s e-Prison Programme, said sources.

Details of sexual offenders and other criminals would be recorded in the e-Prison data system.

All legacy data since 2005 would be uploaded for increasing effectiveness of the system.

The sex offenders’ portal would have profile and personal details, including residential address, fingerprints, DNA sample and PAN number, of both the convicted and accused offenders.

Gauba brought Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance 2018 to the attention of Tripahty and asked to ramp up the State’s infrastructure for forensic facilities and enhance capacity building for faster investigation.

The Union Secretary suggested that the State Government may also set up fast track courts and engage special public prosecutors in sexual offence cases, said officials.

As per the above Ordinance, the law provides for death penalty for rape of a girl below 12 years and gangrape of a girl below 16 years.

The punishment for gang rape of a girl under 16 years’ age would be imprisonment for life.

Recently, the Rajasthan Government approved a bill seeking death penalty for those convicted of raping girls under 12 years’ age.

Two other BJP ruled States, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, have also given the go ahead for a similar law. According to official sources, Globally 14 countries have death penalty law for child rapists.