Death for child rapists: HC raps Modi govt for thoughtless passage; updates

The ordinance comes against the backdrop of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir

The Delhi High Court on Monday questioned why the ordinance on amending the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, to provide for death penalty for raping a child up to 12 years old, was cleared without conducting any research on the issue. The observation by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar came while dealing with a plea seeking to strike down the amendments made in the rape law post the December 16, 2012 Delhi gangrape incident here as they are "being abused". Asking if any study or research was conducted while