After a series of horrific sexual assaults on children in the recent past, India’s government has moved to approve the death penalty for child rapists.
The latest case, involving an 8-year-old Muslim girl who was gang raped by a group of 8 Hindu men in the Kashmir state, sparked national outrage, pressuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take drastic action in passing the new measure, according to AFP (via AsiaOne).
The new law allows capital punishments for those convicted of raping children below the age of 12 and added to minimum jail sentences for rapists who target teens. Trials involving child victims must also be completed two months after an arrest
This is the second time India has bolstered sexual assault laws since 2013 following the brutal gang rape and murder of a Delhi student on a bus in 2012.
Unfortunately, child rape cases still persisted, with 11,000 being reported in 2015.
The latest child victim, Asifa Bano, was drugged and raped for days by a group of Hindu men who were trying to force her Muslim nomad community out of their Hindu-dominated area. Public outrage reached a tipping point after the details of her assault were released to the public, leading to nation-wide protests.
Feature Image (left) via Wikimedia Commons / Balatokyo (CC BY-SA 3.0), (right) via Twitter / Sonu Sood
