Rape-murder can attract death penalty
Bowing to public pressure, the government has proposed the death sentence in extremely brutal cases of sexual assault in the ordinance cleared by the Union Cabinet late Friday evening.
The decision to promulgate the ordinance comes after the national outrage over the gangrape of a paramedical student on a Delhi bus last month. The ordinance enacts tougher laws for sexual offenders, as recommended by the Justice J.S. Verma Commission and has recommended capital punishment or life sentence in brutal rapes that cause the death of the victim or put the victim in a persistent vegetative state.
This newspaper first reported on Thursday that the government may bring an ordinance on new rape laws. The ordinance defines gangrape and entails a provision for a minimum 20 years’ imprisonment for rape and, in case of rape or gangrape with grievous hurt, the sentence would extend up to the convict’s natural life. The new law includes acid attack as an offence under Sec. 354, which deals with sexual assault, and will carry a minimum punishment of 10 years which may go up to life.
But, despite demands by women’s organisations, the government has rejected recommendations by the Verma Commission to include sexual assault in a marriage (marital rape). However, sexual assault by a man upon his wife during separation without her consent remains punishable with up to two years in jail.
In the proposed ordinance, the word “rape” has been replaced by the term “sexual assault” as the prevailing view was to make it gender neutral. Its scope has been widened to include acid attacks, use of criminal force on women, force with the intent to disrobe her, stalking, voyeur-ism, and eve-teasing.
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