HYDERABAD: While the nation is rejoicing about Union cabinet approving an ordinance for stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape on children, activists in the city are opposing it.
The ordinance brings in an amendment in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012, where rapists of the girls under 12 years of age should be punished with death penalty, while those who commit sexual atrocities against those under 16 years of age will have stricter punishment.
Balala Hakkula Sangham, a city-based NGO stated that these amendments in various policies are only being made to protect the image of those in power. “After the Nirbhaya rape incident, they amended the Act stating that those perpetrators under 16 can be tried as adults. Now again, they brought in this amendment, because the child in Kashmir is 12.
What about children who are above 12?”said Achyuta Rao, founder of Balala Hakkula Sangham. Rape as a crime with just including or excluding something in the law will not change, he said.