Uttarakhand HC recommends state govt to formulate law to give death sentence for raping minors

The court order came against the backdrop of the rape of a minor girl in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district. The case reached the court after the Additional Sessions Judge, Rudrapur, Udham Singh Nagar, gave a judgment on April 2017 giving death sentence to Raju.

Uttarakhand High Court

Upholding the judgment of a trial court that had ordered capital punishment to one Karandeep Sharma alias Raju for raping and murdering a seven-year-old, the Uttarakhand High Court, on Friday, recommended the state government to enact a “suitable legislation” to give death sentence to the ones found guilty of raping and murdering girls “aged 15 years or below”.

Expressing concern over the increasing instances of rape, the order of Division Bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Alok Singh stated, “The Court is coming across a number of cases where the victims, aged 15 years or below, are being raped and murdered. There should be deterrence… We recommend to the State Government to enact suitable legislation for awarding death sentence to those found guilty of raping girls aged 15 years or below within three months.”

The court order came against the backdrop of the rape of a minor girl in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district. The case reached the court after the Additional Sessions Judge, Rudrapur, Udham Singh Nagar, gave a judgment on April 2017 giving death sentence to Raju.

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Upholding the Additional Sessions Judge’s judgment, the high court order of Friday mentioned that the “the death sentenced imposed upon the convict is confirmed”.

On the night of June 26, 2016, the body of the seven-year-old girl was found in the Dhakiya-Gulabo area of the state’s Udham Singh Nagar district. “The victim died due to asphyxia as a result of commission of rape,” the high court order stated.

In April 2017 the Additional Sessions Judge, Rudrapur, sentenced Raju to death under sections 376 (a) (punishment for rape) and 302 (punishment for murder) of the IPC.

According to NCRB data for Uttarakhand, the rate of crime against children saw an upsurge between 2014 and 2016. While 489 cases of crime against children were noted in the year 2014, the number increased to 635 for the year 2015, and it further increased to 676 for the year 2016.

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