Centre writes to SC, amending POCSO Act to ensure death to child rapists
Centre Writes to SC, POCSO Act To Ensure Death To Child Rapists The Central government submitted a letter to the Supreme Court stating that it had initiated the process to amend the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in bid to ensure maximum punishment of death penalty for rapists of children between the age-group of 0 and 12, as per reports by official news agency. The move by the Centre comes at a time when the horrific rape and murder of an eight-year-old child in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua shook the nation, triggering a massive outrage. The matter will now be heard on April 27 by the apex court. Union Minister for Child and Woman Development, Maneka Gandhi, wrote to Chief Ministers of all states and union territories marking the necessary steps that need to be taken to deal with sexual offenses. She also suggested the re-training of police officers dealing with various aspects of sexual crimes. The letter also suggested that police officers can be instructed to give utmost priority to complete the investigation of cases of sexual offenses against the children as per the timelines of law. An eight-year-old girl, belonging to minority Muslim community, was abducted, sedated, brutally raped, tortured and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district in January. In the last one week, three incidents of rape and murder of minor girls at wedding functions in Uttar Pradesh's Etah and Chhattisgarh have been reported too. -PTC News
