Bigger India
India Death Penalty For Child Rape Unlikely to Deter Traffickers
India’s cabinet approved the amendment on April 21 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an emergency meeting in response to nationwide outrage in the wake of a series of child rape cases.
People selling children into India’s sex trade are unlikely to be deterred by a new order approving the death penalty for child rape, because laws are rarely applied in trafficking cases, said a leading campaigner.
India’s Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act – which allows lifetime prison sentences for people who sexually assault children – is being amended to introduce the death penalty for the rape of children below age 12.