The rape and murder of three minors — one in Kathua, two others in Surat and Indore — proved to be the proverbial last straw of tolerance. The rallying cries for justice, echoing the long-standing demand of capital punishment to rapists have prompted the government to act swiftly and decisively. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet approved an ordinance that would empower courts to sign the death warrant for those convicted of raping children up to 12 years of age.

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This ordinance to amend the criminal law will bring about modifications in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Evidence Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. It signals the government’s resoluteness in dealing with child rapists in the severest manner. An individual, who can be so depraved as to sexually brutalise and then murder a child, poses danger to mankind. Even those ethically opposed to retributive justice cannot deny the gruesomeness characterising the three cases. They bore tell-tale signs of exceptional cruelty and perversion that only the most morally corrupt are capable of. Showing any form of leniency would have compromised the spirit that drives the administration of the law in a civilised society.

The government’s other laudable steps include increasing the quantum of minimum rigorous punishment for rapes of women from seven to 10 years. It can also be extended to life imprisonment. When the victim is under 16 years, a conviction would now attract a minimum prison term of 20 years, extendable to life imprisonment, which means the person will remain behind bars till his death. The Centre realises that the mechanism of dispensing justice needs to be firmed up as well. Hence, the decision to set up new fast-track courts in consultation with states, union territories and High Courts. The girl in Kathua was only seven years old; the minor in Surat was barely 11 and the Indore victim was just around eight months. Rapists and murderers who target children are usually known to the victims.

The National Crime Records Bureau data testifies to the familiarity factor. It also reveals that the parents of most victims of sexual abuse try to hush up the crime for fear of social stigma. Imagine the predicament of the child, her fear and trauma bottled up within, who is powerless in the unfair world of adults. She understands early on that getting justice cannot be a cause for embarrassment for her parents and relatives. But it matters to her that the person responsible for turning her life into a nightmare has gone unpunished and that he will seek out new victims because of his immunity from any form of censure. Those who are strident in seeking justice for the three girls must also ensure that children in their homes and in the neighbourhood are safe from predators.