India’s cabinet has approved the death penalty for rapists of girls below the age of 12, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an emergency meeting in response to nationwide outrage in the wake of a series of cases.
The executive order, or ordinance, amends the criminal law to also include more drastic punishment for convicted rapists of girls below the age of 16, government officials said. The order, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, will come into effect once it is signed by India’s president.
India launched fast-track courts and a tougher rape law that included the death penalty after a gruesome assault on a young woman shocked the country in 2012, but India’s rape epidemic has shown no sign of dying down.
