NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s cabinet on Saturday approved the death penalty for rapists of girls below the age of 12, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an emergency meeting in response to nationwide outrage in the wake of a series of cases.

The executive order, or ordinance, amends the criminal law to also include more drastic punishment for convicted rapists of girls below the age of 16, government officials said. The order, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, will come into effect once it is signed by India’s president.

India launched fast-track courts and a tougher rape law that included the death penalty after a gruesome assault on a young woman shocked the country in 2012, but India’s rape epidemic has shown no sign of dying down.

There were 40,000 rapes reported in 2016. The victims were children in 40 percent of those cases. Every day, newspapers carry fresh stories of sexual violence against women.

The latest outpouring of national revulsion came after details emerged of the gang rape of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in a Hindu-dominated area of Jammu and Kashmir state. Local leaders of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party had appeared to offer support to the men accused, adding to the public disgust.

Protests around the country were also prompted by the arrest of a lawmaker from the BJP last week in connection with the rape of a teenager in Uttar Pradesh, a populous northern state that is governed by the party.

More recently, a sexual attack on an 11-year-old girl was reported in Modi’s home state of Gujarat. The post-mortem revealed the girl had been tortured, raped, strangled and smothered.

Modi’s failure to speak out soon enough during the latest bout of public anger fueled criticism that his government was not doing enough to protect women.

With a general election due next year, Modi moved swiftly to remedy that negative perception by holding the emergency cabinet meeting as soon as he returned on Saturday morning from an official visit to Europe.

The cabinet also prescribed measures for stronger punishment and faster trials in rape cases, a government document seen by Reuters showed.

In cases of the rape of a girl below the age of 16, the cabinet increased the minimum punishment to 20 years from 10 years. The penalty for the rape of women was raised to 10 years from seven years.

The document made no mention of the rape of boys or men.

India’s judicial system has been unable to keep up with the growing number of rape cases. The cabinet also recommended mandatory completion of rape investigations within two months and advised that trials should also be completed in two months.

“Government has taken serious note of incidents of rape in various parts of the country,” the document said. “While expressing deep anguish over such incidents, it has been decided to devise a comprehensive response to deal with the situation.”

The cabinet also approved the establishment of more fast-track courts to deal with rape cases, the appointment of more public prosecutors, and ordered police stations to be equipped with special forensic kits, among other steps. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption Reported rapes of children had more than doubled in India between 2012 and 2016

India's Cabinet has approved the introduction of the death penalty for those who rape children, amid uproar over a series of high-profile cases.

The change to the country's penal code applies to those convicted of raping a child under the age of 12.

There have been nationwide protests in recent weeks over the gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl.

The government has come under fire for not doing enough to prevent sexual-assault cases, many involving children.

A number of serious crimes in India carry the death penalty, but raping a child was not among them until now.

Nearly 19,000 cases were registered in India in 2016 - more than 50 each day.

What's in the new law?

The executive order was cleared at a special cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It allows capital punishment for anyone convicted of raping children under the age of 12.

Minimum prison sentences for rape against girls under the age of 16 and women have also been raised.

According to Reuters, which has seen a copy of the order, there was no mention of boys or men.

Why now?

Two recent rape cases have shocked the nation.

Protests erupted earlier this month after police released horrific details of the rape of an eight-year-old Muslim girl by Hindu men in Kathua, in Indian-administered Kashmir in January.

Anger has also been mounting after a member of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was accused last week over the rape of a 16-year-old girl in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

India's poor record of dealing with sexual violence came to the fore after the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus. This led to huge protests and changes to the country's rape laws.

But sexual attacks against women and children have since continued to be reported across the country.

How is the death penalty used in India?

Executions are rarely carried out in India, with just three recorded in the last decade.

The four men convicted in the Delhi bus case were sentenced to death, though this has not yet been carried out.

The judge in that case said it fell into "the rarest of rare category" which justifies capital punishment in India. India's penal code, according to the Hindustan Times, had already prescribed the death penalty for gang rape.

Hanging is the main method of execution. A man convicted of financing the deadly 1993 Mumbai bombings was the last person to be executed in India - in 2015. </s> NEW DELHI — India’s top court on Friday upheld the death sentences of four men who were convicted in the fatal gang-rape and torture of a 23-year-old medical student on a moving bus in the Indian capital nearly five years ago.

The court held that the nature of the crime, which triggered massive protests across India, made it a fit case for the death penalty. It described the assault as “most brutal, barbaric and diabolical,” according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

The victim’s father said he was happy with the court judgment and demanded that the convicts be hanged quickly.

“The court heard our voice and gave justice,” Badri Singh said.

Prosecutors said the four — Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh — took their victim to the back of a private bus in New Delhi, raping her and then damaging her internal organs with an iron rod. She died two weeks later of injuries in a hospital in Singapore, where she was taken for treatment.

The outrage over the New Delhi attack prompted quick action on legislation doubling prison terms for rapists to 20 years and criminalizing voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women. Indian lawmakers also voted to lower to 16 from 18 the age at which a person can be tried as an adult for heinous crimes.

Defence attorney A. P. Singh, representing three of the men, said the court should have given a chance to reform and avoided the death penalty. He said he would seek a review of Friday’s judgment from Supreme Court judges.

Ram Singh, the bus driver and the fifth suspect in the crime, was found hanging in his cell in Tihar prison in March 2013, months before the suspects were convicted.

The sixth suspect was just months short of 18 years when the crime took place. He walked out of a correction home in December 2015 after spending three years — the maximum punishment for minors — sparking public outrage and an overhaul of the juvenile law.

Indian courts are notorious for delays as more than 30 million cases are pending before them.

In view of the massive protests across the country, the Indian government put the gang rape case on a fast-track trial.

Swati Maliwal, chief of the New Delhi Commission for Women, said people in India were not scared of committing crimes because of long delays in bringing them to justice.

“The fact is that the road to justice is very, very long in this country,” she said. “Even in this case, it has taken five years. But at least in five years, we are coming to a conclusion. There are women in the country who have been fighting court battles for 10 to 15 years.”

At least six rapes were taking place in the Indian capital every day, she said.

“Nothing much has changed because there is no fear among people that if they do something wrong, they will be punished,” she said. </s> An Indian court has sentenced three men to life imprisonment for the brutal rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Indian Kashmir, in a case that sparked nationwide outrage.

The young Muslim girl was kidnapped last January while she was alone in a field grazing horses, tortured, drugged, and repeatedly raped inside a small Hindu temple for five days. She was then bludgeoned with a rock and her body dumped in a forest near Kathua district.

The three men convicted include a retired government official and a police officer.

Three other police officers were handed five-year sentences for destruction of evidence. One man was acquitted and a juvenile will be tried in a separate court.

The girl, who belonged to a Muslim nomadic tribe, was targeted as part of a plan to frighten the community into leaving the Hindu-dominated area, according to investigators.

In Jammu and Kashmir — the only Muslim majority state that simmers with tensions, the sexual assault exposed a religious divide when the arrest and trial of the Hindu men for the rape of a Muslim girl prompted protests by right-wing Hindu groups and lawyers. The protesters included two senior leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir they resigned after the case came under the national spotlight.

In cities across India, members of an outraged public took to the streets demanding justice for the young girl and the Supreme Court ordered that the trial should be held in a neighboring state.

Lawyers representing the victim's family said they would appeal in a higher court to seek the death penalty. Defense lawyers, meanwhile, said the case was based on "circumstantial evidence," and that they would appeal the conviction in a higher court.

"Justice will be done if the perpetrators are hanged," the eight year old's father told reporters before the sentences were pronounced.

The chairman of the National Commission for Women, Rekha Sharma, also said the men should get the death penalty "to set an example for others because cases against minors are increasing."

The Kathua rape was one of the cases that prompted India to tighten laws for sexual assault. It introduced the death penalty for the rape of children under the age of 12. In April of last year, India increased minimum prison terms from 10- to 20 years for the rape of girls under age 16.

The stricter laws, however, appear to have done little to deter incidents of sexual violence.According to government figures, instances of child rape account for nearly half of the total cases that are reported. Nearly 19,000 such cases rape were registered in 2016, or more than 50 each day.

Some blame a slow-moving justice system. While the trial in the rape and murder of the 8-year-old girl was completed in 16 months in a fast track court, many sexual assault cases languish in the courts, usually dragging on for years. </s> The rape cases in Kathua, Unnao and Surat sparked nationwide outrage following which pressure mounted on the Centre to amend laws. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday promulgated an ordinance to pave way for providing stringent punishment, including death penalty, for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years.

The Union Cabinet on Saturday approved the ordinance to allow courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping girls under 12 years.

New fast-track courts will be set up to deal with such cases and special forensic kits for rape cases will be given to all police stations and hospitals in the long term, according to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2018. It stipulates stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape, particularly of girls below 16 and 12 years.

Also Read: Rapists of children below 12 will get death, Cabinet okays change in law

Death sentence has been provided for rapists of girls under 12 years, officials said quoting the ordinance.

The minimum punishment in case of rape of women has been increased from rigorous imprisonment of seven years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment, they said. In case of rape of a girl under 16 years, the minimum punishment has been increased from 10 years to 20 years, extendable to imprisonment for rest of life, which means jail term till the convict's "natural life".

The punishment for gangrape of a girl below 16 years will invariably be imprisonment for the rest of life of the convict, the officials said.

Stringent punishment for rape of a girl under 12 years has been provided with the minimum jail term being 20 years which may go up to life in prison or death sentence, they said.

The Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Evidence Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act will now stand amended.

The measure also provides for speedy investigation and trial. The time limit for investigation of all cases of rape has been prescribed, which has to be mandatorily completed within two months.

The deadline for the completion of trial in all rape cases will be two months, the officials said.

A six-month time limit for the disposal of appeals in rape cases has also been prescribed. There will also be no provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gangrape of a girl under 16 years. </s> An Indian guru with 40 million followers was today found guilty of raping a teenage devotee while pretending to rid her of evil spirits.

Asaram Bapu was convicted at a closed jailhouse court hearing in Jodhpur, India, while hundreds of police stood guard.

The 77-year-old leads more than 400 ashrams in India and around the world. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The white-bearded guru, who urges followers to live a pious life free of sexual desires, has always denied raping the then-16-year-old at an ashram in the city.

He can appeal the verdict and forthcoming sentence for the 2013 crime to a higher court.

Asaram raped the girl while her parents waited outside his room chanting prayers as he 'cured' her and threatened to kill her family if she told anyone.

The hearing was closed to media and the prison surrounded by tight security, with his sentence to be announced later in the day.

'He has been convicted for rape and sections of stringent child protection law and will get a minimum 10 years or life in prison,' the victim's lawyer Utsav Bains said.

Several Indian states were put on high alert and thousands of extra police deployed ahead of Asaram's trial with authorities fearing riots if 'Babuji' was found guilty.

Devotees of another self-styled Hindu guru Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, who was jailed in 2017 for 20 years for rape, went on a rampage that lasted days and left 38 dead.

Asaram still commands a huge following but his star power has faded following the rape charges and other controversies.

He is also on trial for raping two sisters along with his son Narayan Sai, and involvement in the killing of two students at another of his Hindu retreats.

Meanwhile, the gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old and a separate assault on a teenager by a ruling party politician has sparked revulsion in recent weeks and angry marches across India.

Under pressure to respond, the government last week approved the death penalty for those convicted of raping children under 12.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi - who was criticised for a slow response to the protests - has since promised 'to hang the people of demonic tendencies who misbehave with daughters'.

'There is a government in Delhi which listens to the hearts of the people and decides on the basis of it,' he told a political gathering Wednesday.

Officials from Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) responded angrily Wednesday as the main opposition Congress party distributed photos of the prime minister alongside Asaram.

Asaram's website boasts of many high-profile devotees and admirers, including Modi and other past prime ministers. </s> Six men were convicted Monday over the notorious 2018 gang rape and murder in India of an eight-year-old girl from a Muslim nomadic tribe that provoked horror and stoked inter-religious tensions.

Sexual violence, including against children, is rife in India and outrage over the so-called Kathua case contributed to the government introducing the death penalty for child rapists.

According to the charge sheet, the girl was abducted while she was out grazing horses and taken to a village in the Kathua district of the northern Indian region of Jammu on January 10 last year.

In an ordeal lasting five days, she was sedated and held in a Hindu temple, repeatedly raped and then strangled and bludgeoned to death.

Investigations suggested that the girl was targeted in order to strike fear in her nomad community and drive them out of the area.

The six Hindu men were due to be sentenced later, prosecution lawyer Mubeen Farooqui told reporters outside a special court in Pathankot, in Punjab state.

They face the death penalty with a minimum of life imprisonment. A seventh man was acquitted while an eighth person, who claims to be underage, faces a separate trial.

"We will appeal against the convictions in a higher court," defence lawyer H.S. Pathania said.

Among the three convicted for rape and murder were village head Sanjhi Ram and special police officer Deepak Khajuria. Three others were found guilty of taking bribes and destroying evidence, but still face life imprisonment under strict conspiracy laws.

India has the death penalty for the most brutal murders and terror attacks. The last execution happened in 2015 over bombings in Mumbai in 1993.

The Kathua case sparked two days of violent protests in Jammu and demonstrations in several other places across India, including in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

The ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party also drew flak after two of its members participated in rallies in support of the accused.

The protests were reminiscent of those that followed the fatal gang rape of a Delhi student on a bus in 2012 that made headlines around the world.

The Supreme Court had shifted the Kathua trial to Punjab after the girl's family and their lawyer complained of death threats.

Sexual violence, including against children, remains unabated in India. Nearly 20,000 child rape cases were reported in 2016, according to official data, while a 2014 UN report said one in three rape victims was a minor.

Jammu and Kashmir is India's only Muslim-majority state, but the southern Jammu region -- where the rape and murder took place -- is Hindu-dominated.

On Monday hundreds of police were on duty in Pathankot for the trial. Wary of new protests, security was also heavy in Kathua town and surrounding Muslim areas. </s> Supreme Court upholds death penalty for four men convicted of rape that sparked widespread protests and condemnation.

India's Supreme Court has upheld death sentences against four men who fatally gang raped a woman on board a bus in 2012, a crime that sparked widespread protests and drew international attention over violence against women.

The four had challenged a 2013 court ruling that they should be hanged, which was later upheld by an appeals court.

"It's a barbaric crime and it has shaken the society's conscience," Justice R. Banumathi told a packed courtroom on Friday.

READ MORE: A dark trade - Rape videos for sale in India

Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, was raped and left for dead by a gang of five men and a teenager after she boarded a private bus while going home from the cinema with a male friend.

She died of grievous internal injuries 13 days later.

Of the six people arrested, one committed suicide in prison in 2013, while the juvenile was sentenced to three years in a reform facility and released in 2015. 

 

The rape, and Singh's determination to survive long enough to identify her attackers to police, triggered large-scale street protests over the high levels of violence against Indian women and children.

READ MORE: Women in Uttar Pradesh are still waiting for justice

In 2015, more than 34,000 cases of rape were reported in the country, according to the country's National Crime Record Bureau.

Women's rights activist Binalakshmi Nepram said violence against women is a "trend" in India.

"The rise of violence against women will not end with any one case," Nepram told Al Jazeera. "India will take 100 more years to treat its women with the respect they derserve."

She added that there needs to be a change in mindset in the country. </s> The mother of one of the four men, found guilty of the fatal gang-rape of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi, cries upon seeing the news on a court verdict on a TV inside her house at a slum in New Delhi September 10, 2013. — Reuters picNEW DELHI, May 5 — India’s Supreme Court today upheld the death sentences of four men convicted for the 2012 gang rape and murder of a Delhi student.

Justice Dipak Misra said the 23-year-old woman had suffered a “devastating hour of darkness” as the court rejected an appeal against the death penalty, which was handed down in 2013.

Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, was raped and left for dead by a gang of five men and a teenager after she boarded a private bus while going home from the cinema with a male friend.

She died of grievous internal injuries 13 days later.

The brutality of the attack, and her determination to survive long enough to identify her attackers to police, triggered large-scale angry street protests as well as soul-searching about India’s treatment of women.

Four men were convicted in September 2013 for murder, gang rape, theft, conspiracy and “unnatural acts” after a seven-month trial in a fast-track court.

A fifth man, the suspected ringleader, was found dead in jail in a suspected suicide, while the 17-year-old was sentenced to three years in a detention centre and has since been released.

Sentencing the four in 2013, Judge Yogesh Khanna said the case fell into the “rarest of rare category” which justifies capital punishment in India.

Media reports said a round of applause went up in court as the judgement was read out today at the end of an appeal hearing that began last year.

“This is a historic message to all the people, the criminal mindset who wrong women, who inflict violence on women, to know that if you do something like this you will be also paying for it by the severest punishment that exists in our laws of the land,” she said on Indian news channel NDTV. — AFP
Indian lawmakers approve capital punishment for men who rape children under the age of 12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi signs the measure.