Child rape is inexcusable, won’t quash ordinance: Dehi High Court

Source – indianexpress.com

“Child rape is inexcusable” and “no leniency or mercy can be shown” to one who commits such a crime, the Delhi High Court said on Tuesday while declining to quash the ordinance that allows courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping girls aged below 12.

“Offence of rape is serious and heinous in itself. Gravity increases when a child below 12 years of age is involved. From our view the classification of punishment on basis of age of the victim cannot be termed as arbitrary or illegal,” a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and I S Mehta said.

Challenging the ordinance, Sunil Kumar Sharma contended that it was issued merely to address the outrage that followed the rape cases of minor girls in Kathua and Unnao, without adequately addressing the issues at hand.

Calling it a “knee-jerk reaction”, the petitioner pointed out that not only does the ordinance take away rights of the accused, it also bases the distinctions on age, ignoring other vulnerable classes.