Did President pass an ordinance allowing death sentence for all rapists in India?
A post on social media is going viral which states that President Ram Nath Kovind has passed an ordinance changing the laws on punishment for rape offenders in India.
Claims: The post claims that the President has passed an ordinance recently allowing death sentence for all rapists in India. The caption along the post reads, “जिसका इंतज़ार था वही मोदी सरकार ने कर दिया, अब हर बलात्कारी को मिलेगी फांसी, राष्ट्रपति ने अध्यादेश को दी मंजूरी!”
Translation – “The Modi government did what was awaited, now every rapist will be hanged, the President approved the ordinance!”
The post is being heavily shared on all social media platforms.
The same post went viral on Facebook in 2019 as well.
जिसका इंतज़ार था वही मोदी सरकार ने दिया, अब हर बलातकारी को मिलेगी फांसी, राष्ट्रपति ने अध्यादेश को दी मंजूरी 🙏🙏🙏
— Munmun Bhattacharjee (@Munmun0690) June 19, 2021
जिसका इंतज़ार था वही मोदी सरकार ने कर दिया, अब हर बलात्कारी को मिलेगी फांसी, राष्ट्रपति ने अध्यादेश को दी मंजूरी.
— 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐧𝐮𝐣 ♛ (@Brand_Anuj) June 21, 2021
मोदी है तो मुमकिन है…
अब तेरा क्या होगा "" टोपी "" https://t.co/CWeXvK1Gz0— बेबाक, बेघर (@VishuBh17232456) June 21, 2021
Truth
MISLEADING – Only for Child Rapists.
There is no such ordinance passed by President Ram Nath Kovind allowing death sentence for all rapists in India.
A google search with the keywords showed us that no media organization had reported any change in the rape laws of the country. The latest amendment in rape laws was in 2018.
The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, for the first time, put death penalty as a possible punishment. However, this is applicable only for rape of a girl under 12 years with a minimum punishment of 20 years in jail.
Before that in 2013, a nationwide outcry against rape following the brutal Delhi rape and murder case of December, 2012 led to the passing of Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. The new act increased jail terms in most sexual assault cases and provided for the death penalty in rape cases that cause death of the victim or leaves her in a vegetative state.
A detailed development of the rape laws is available here.
More recently, the latest Criminal Law Amendment bill, 2019 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha with the main objective to make the offence of rape, gender neutral. There is, however, no mention of death penalty for all rapists in the particular bill too.
