Prof. SaifuddinSoz, former Union minister today demanded summoning of session of state legislature to pass stringent law to protect the children from the crime like the one that took place at Kathua.
”While the major issue before the Kashmir Society is to seek resolution of the Kashmir dispute through a purposeful dialogue between the Centre and the Kashmir leadership (initiating it with the Hurriyat Conference) the urgency of attention to the heinous crime of rape and murder of an 8-year old child, can hardly be over-exaggerated,” Soz said in a statement.
“The first and the foremost task for the State government is to summon an urgent session of the State Legislature to pass a stringent law to protect the children from the crime like the one that took place at Kathua,” he said. “Maneka Gandhi’s proposal for death penality for rape of children below age-12, seems to be quite correct. There can also be a provision of severe punishment, say life imprisonment for the rape and murder of victims between age 12+ and age +18,” he said.
“There is no need of referring the matter for opinion to the Law Ministry as the simplest course open to the State Govt. is that the provision of the Law adopted by other states titled Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO) be examined seriously and amended as per need, to present a draft to the Legislature and that Law can be given any title, keeping in view the gruesome and undescribable heinous crime commited by the marauders at Kathua, recently,” he added. “There is already a consensus that the rape and murder below a certain age (say, 12 years) should carry the death penality for the culprit and the same can be provided in the proposed Law.” Soz said.