Law Minister Anisul Huq has said inclusion of death sentence as capital punishment in the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Ordinance- 2020 would certainly bring down the occurrence of rape.
“Enhancing capital punishment for rape from life imprisonment to death would bring down the crime, or else the question of enhancing the punishment would not come,” he said on Monday.
The minister came up with the statement while addressing a press briefing at his residence in Gulshan area on Monday as the cabinet on Monday approved the draft of the “Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Ordinance- 2020” incorporating death as capital punishment in rape cases, reports BSS.
“On the direction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, I proposed to amend the section 9 (1) of the act, incorporating death sentence along with the life imprisonment as maximum punishment for rape. Changes are being made in section 9 (4) as well,” he said.
The minister said the government is taking preparation to issue this amendment as ordinance tomorrow following the President’s order.
“There are many debates regarding the death sentence worldwide. In spite of these, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina thinks punishment should be enhanced due to the current situation and we’ve brought the amendment for this. Apart from these, we have decided to dispose of the old rape cases first and the new ones as soon as possible,” he added.
Anisul Huq further said that he would request the chief justice for a practice direction so that the judges of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunals take necessary steps to dispose of the cases as soon as possible.
