Haryana to enact law for rapists of minors; Khattar says 'hurt by the incidents'

Karnal (Haryana): Facing heat over a string of rape incidents involving minors in Haryana recently, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today said the state would enact a law providing capital punishment to those found guilty of sexually abusing girls aged 12 years or below. Besides, the state government would make a request for setting up fast-track courts for dealing with rape cases to ensure speedy justice to victims. The chief minister was addressing people after laying the foundation stone of a sugar mill here. Expressing anguish and concern over the recent incidents of rape in the state, he said though the police were dealing with such cases as required under the law, it had been decided to make provisions of harsher punishment for rape. "I am really hurt by the incidents being reported by you lately. We have decided to make strong provisions. If such incidents of rape with girls below 12 is proved true, we will make an act of capital punishment for the accused in this session," CM said reported ANI. Usually, relatives and near and dear ones of the victims have been found to be involved in about 75 per cent of rape cases, he said.Besides the police, it is also the responsibility of the society to come forward and generate awareness among the people against such kind of mentality, the chief minister said. He assured the people that the state police was actively working to solve the recent cases of rape in the state. Two minor Dalit girls were allegedly raped and killed in separate incidents in Haryana recently, barely a month after a similar case involving a six-year-old girl shook the state. One of the girls, a 15-year-old school student, had been brutally assaulted and her private parts mutilated.