Maneka for death penalty in child rape cases
New Delhi, April 13: Following a public outrage over the gang rape of a minor girl in Jammu and Kashmirs Kathua, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Friday declared that her ministry intends to amend the POCSO Act, making provision for death penalty in child rape cases.
"I have been deeply, deeply disturbed by the rape case in Kathua and all the recent rape cases that have happened on children.
"I and the (Women and Child Development) Ministry intend to bring an amendment to the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act asking for the death penalty for rape on children below 12 years," the WCD Minister said in a video message.
Eight people, including mastermind Sanji Ram, have been charged with abduction, rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl from the Bakerwal community in Rasana village in January.
Investigations have revealed that the girl was held in a temple, drugged, repeatedly raped and finally murdered to scare the nomadic Muslim community out of the village.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
