Bombay HC upholds constitutional validity of legal provision providing death penalty to repeated rape offenders

The Bombay High Court on Monday upheld the constitutional validity of section 376E of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which provides death penalty or life imprisonment to a repeated rape offender.

A division bench of the high court presided by Justices BP Dharmadhimari and Ravati Mohit Dere turned down the plea challenging the constitutional validity of this section of the IPC.

The plea filed by three convicts in the Shakti Mill gangrape case challenged the legal provisions under which they were awarded death penalty in 2014.

Section 376 (e) states, "Whoever has been previously convicted of an offence punishable under section 376, 376 (a) or 376 (d) and is subsequently convicted of an offence punishable under any of the said sections shall be punished with imprisonment for life which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person's natural life or with death.