Supreme Court suggested Parliament to enact separate law for child rape

The Supreme Court said rape of infants and children below 10 years of age is nothing but brutal perversion and asked the Parliament to enact a separate law providing harsh punishment.This is the first time that the apex court has distinguished infants and children below the age of 10 from the general description of ‘minors’ given by law to anyone below the age of 18.

• A Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra said the Parliament had to separately define the word ‘child’ in terms of rape.
• The court pointed out how Section 376 (2) (f) of the Indian Penal Code only talks of rape of a “woman below 12 years of age“.
• The apex court’s suggestion to the Parliament comes even as new anti-rape laws has made rape punishable with death penalty.

The petition had contended that India would not be viewed as barbaric by introducing castration as a punishment. It argued that a special Act like Protection of Children fromSexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012 has not been able to prevent crimes against the children from rising.