New Delhi: The Union Cabinet headed by PM Narendra Modi on Saturday approved an ordinance on death penalty for those convicted of raping children below the age of 12.
Following a meeting of the Union Cabinet here, the government cleared the amendment in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
ALSO READ: Nation wide protests paid off, ‘Death for child rapist’ likely
In the wake of the gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi had earlier expressed her ministry’s intention to amend the POCSO to make provision for death penalty in such cases.
Soon after, the Centre submitted its report while responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava in the Supreme Court, seeking maximum sentence of death penalty to those offenders involved in the rape and brutal murder of children between the age group of 0 to 12.
ANI inputs