New Delhi: Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Friday expressed her outrage at rape cum murder of eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.
“I am deeply disturbed by the rape case in Kathua and all the recent rape cases that have happened on children. Both I and my ministry intend to bring an amendment to the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act asking for the death penalty for rape on children below 12 years,” Maneka Gandhi said in an interview with a TV channel.
She is not the first union minister to speak against rape and murder of a minor girl in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Minister for State for External Affairs Gen (Retd) V K Singh also expressed his anguish over the incident. In his tweet on Thursday, he advocated for a punishment so severe that “we can make an example of them for generations.”
Rape and murder case of the eight-year-old girl in Kathua and the rape of a minor girl in Unnao by BJP MLA has shocked the nation with protests being organised in various places.
Recently, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh have passed a Bill in their respective state assemblies approving capital punishment for rape of children below 12 years of age.
