LS passes Bill on rape punishment
News:
- It provides for death sentence for those convicted of raping those aged under 12.
News:
- Recently, the Lok Sabha passed the Criminal Law(Amendment) Bill, 2018.
Important facts:
- Key features of the Bill
- It provides for death sentence for those convicted of raping those aged under 12.
- Enhances the minimum punishment for rape of a woman from seven to 10 years.
- It amends the IPC, CrPC, Indian Evidence Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
- The Bill once passed, will replace the Criminal Law(Amendment )Ordinance promulgated in April 2018.
- The minimum punishment for the rape of a girl under 12 will be 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. The maximum being death sentence or life imprisonment.
- Earlier the punishment was rigorous imprisonment ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment.
- For gang-rape of a girl below 12, the punishment will be life imprisonment or death.
- The minimum punishment for rape of girl under 16 will be 20 years of rigorous imprisonment, extendable to life imprisonment. Earlier, it was 10 years.
- In the case of gang-rape of a girl below 16, the punishment will be life imprisonment. Earlier it was 10 years of rigorous imprisonemnt only.
- The Bill also provides for investigation of rape cases within two months from the registration of an FIR.
- For disposal of an appeal after conviction in lower court, the timeline would now be within six months. Earlier there was no timeline for this.
