Bangladesh President Md Abdul Hamid has issued an ordinance elevating the maximum punishment in rape cases to the death sentence from life imprisonment.
Hamid on Tuesday signed the amendment to the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, which was approved by the cabinet led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The cabinet approved the legal amendment for death penalty in rape cases on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
Different organisations have been protesting at Dhaka’s Shahbagh square and other parts of the country for nearly a week over sexual assaults on a woman in Noakhali and the rape of another woman in Sylhet’s MC College.
The maximum punishment under the previous law in rape cases was life imprisonment.