The Uttarakhand High Court has suggested that the state government bring in a law which imposes death penalty for raping minors, so that it acts as a strong deterrent against such offences.
A division bench of Justices Rajiv Sharma and Alok Singh on Friday made the observation, while upholding the death sentence of a man, who was convicted by a lower court last year for raping and killing an eight-year-old in June 2016.
Citing steady rise in crime against children in recent years, the bench observed that it is the state government which can bring an appropriate legislation to impose death penalties on convicts, who are found guilty of raping minors aged 15 or below.
The high court underlined the need for a strong deterrent as it is coming across a number of cases, where minors aged 15 or below are being raped and murdered.
It quoted a recent report by the National Crime Records Bureau titled 'Crime Against Children (States & UTs)', which said 676 such cases were registered in the state in 2016, compared to 635 in 2015 and 489 in 2014.
