INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
nationwide grief and anger over the gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua, there is a move to change
the law for sexual crimes against children to bring in the death penalty for child rape
Union Minister Maneka Gandhi declared it in a video message in which she said she was "deeply, deeply" disturbed by the Kathua rape
case.Maneka Gandhi said her Women and Child Development Ministry would move a cabinet note on Monday to amend POCSO, the Protection of
Children Against Sexual Offences Act."I have been deeply, deeply disturbed by the rape case in Kathua and all the recent rape cases that
have happened on children
I and the ministry intend to bring an amendment to the POCSO Act asking for the death penalty for rape on children below 12 years," said
Bakerwal community out of the Rassana area of Kathua
The police say she was kept sedated and without food the entire time
Before she was strangled, one of the men, a police officer, insisted on raping her one more time.Eight men have been arrested but Hindu
groups have rushed to their defence; those arrested are Hindu and the girl's Bakerwal community is Muslim.Local leaders of the BJP -
including two state ministers - and a lawyers' group linked to the Congress campaigned against the arrests
The central leadership of both parties remained silent.But grisly details of the crime and the horror inflicted on the child described in a
police chargesheet submitted in court have dramatically shifted the narrative, three months on.Yesterday, union minister VK Singh became the
first central voice from the ruling BJP to call for justice for the murdered girl
Later, Congress president Rahul Gandhi also tweeted and held a midnight march.Celebrities, sportsmen and thousands others have expressed
anguish at the crime and called for toughest action.
