The Madhya Pradesh government passed the Bill after the latest NCRB report showed that MP witnessed the highest number of rape cases in the country in 2016. (Representational Image) The Madhya Pradesh government passed the Bill after the latest NCRB report showed that MP witnessed the highest number of rape cases in the country in 2016. (Representational Image)

The Supreme Court Tuesday stayed the death sentence awarded to a man convicted in the rape and murder of a four-year-old in Madhya Pradesh, news agency ANI reported. Madhya Pradesh recently enacted a new anti-rape law that awards death penalty to those convicted of raping girls aged 12 or less.

According to ANI, the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Jabalpur bench in its judgment had sentenced the convict to death. Ever since the Bill was introduced in December last year, the state has witnessed 12 death sentences being awarded in rape cases of minors. The state government passed the Bill after the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report showed that MP witnessed the highest number of rape cases in the country in 2016. The minimum punishment, the Bill stated, would be a 14-year rigorous imprisonment or life term till death. This would go up to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment in cases of gangrape of girls aged 12 or less.

Following Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh passed similar legislation, while J&K and Delhi resolved to do so. Even as MP’s Bill was pending with the President, in April this year, the Centre issued an ordinance providing death for the rape of minors, including many provisions of MP’s legislation. In July, the Lok Sabha passed the Bill, which also puts a two-month deadline on the trial of rape cases, a six-month time limit for disposal of appeals, and says there will be no provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gang rape of a girl under 16 years of age.

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