New Delhi: Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi on Monday expressed satisfaction with the Supreme Court’s judgement upholding death penalty for the convicts in the 2012 rape case in Delhi.
In Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi said that a convict has been awarded death sentence for raping a minor girl after the new law was formulated in the state which allowed death sentence for perpetrators in rape cases involving minors.
She told ANI, “The determination of the Home Ministry to have a particular cell for heinous crimes such as molestation and rape of women shows that violence against women will not be tolerated.”
Maneka said that the measures taken by the government will act as a strong deterrent for the perpetrators of such crimes.
On April 21, the Centre cleared the amendment in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to award death sentence to the rapists of children below the age of 12.
BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said, “The Supreme Court’s judgment has raised and restored people’s faith in the judiciary. We as a society need to send a very strong message to the culprits and accused in cases of rapes.”
The court today upheld its earlier order of death sentence for the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan and R Bhanumathi, pronounced the verdict in the case.
The judgement came in response to a review petition filed by three death row convicts — Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta — against the Supreme Court order of May 2017 which said that Nirbhaya’s rapists and killers should be hanged. (ANI)