India institutes death penalty for child rape in wake of 8-year-old's brutal death
Source: Washington Post
By Annie Gowen April 21 at 2:32 PM
NEW DELHI — Offenders who rape girls under 12 may now be subject to the death penalty in India, according to an ordinance passed by India’s cabinet Saturday after a nationwide furor over the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl.
In an emergency meeting, India’s cabinet approved an amendment to the law protecting children from sexual offenses that will set the minimum penalty for the gang rape of a child under 12 to life imprisonment or death, and the minimum for the rape of a child to 20 years up to a maximum sentence of life or death. It also doubled, to 20 years, the minimum punishment for the rape of a child under 16.
The new ordinance also calls for rape cases to be investigated in two months and trials to be concluded in the same span, as well as for new forensic labs and fast-track courts to be added.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been under fire for his response to the crisis sparked by the arrest earlier this month of eight suspects in the January rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-institutes-death-penalty-for-child-rape-in-wake-of-8-year-olds-brutal-death/2018/04/21/0d5c0ba2-4578-11e8-b2dc-b0a403e4720a_story.html
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