Cabinet nod for death penalty for raping children below 12
New Delhi, April 21: The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday approved an ordinance on the death penalty for those convicted of raping children below the age of 12.
The decision came a day after the Ministry of Women and Child Development told the Supreme Court that it was proposing the death penalty for those convicted of raping children.
The Ministry had told the apex court that the government was "sensitive to the plight of young children" brutally abused in the most horrific manner, and proposed to amend the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act by introducing the death penalty to the convicts of child rapes.
The Cabinet move came in the backdrop of nationwide outrage over the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, and other instances in different parts of the country including a nine-year-old girl in Surat.
The POCSO Act was formulated in order to effectively address sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children.
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Need to amend Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act 1976 to save trees in state: Minister Khandre
Bengaluru: Minister for Forest and Environment Eshwara B Khandre expressed worry over the illegal felling of trees on government land, forests and roadsides and opined that there was a need to amend the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act 1976 to handle the problem.
Khandre, who addressed the Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) Monthly Management Review (MMR) meeting on Thursday, said that there was a need to take strict action in the matter by imposing higher penalty on those axing trees illegally.
He also cited the Supreme Court’s objection to cutting trees in large numbers, saying protection of trees was necessary in the backdrop of increasing levels of global warming and climate change. He directed the officials to follow the Supreme Court’s view over the indiscriminate axing of trees, adding that officials should not grant permission to unnecessary felling of trees.
In addition, the minister pointed out that citizens and environmentalists had expressed outrage over the axing of 40 trees in Mysuru recently and the proposal to fell 368 trees near the Cantonment Railway Station in Bengaluru.
Khandre said there should be zero tolerance for encroachment of forest land and, in cases of encroachment post-2015, the encroachers should be evicted without leniency. He also directed officials for him information on encroachments, evictions and actions that had been taken in the last two years.
