3-year sentence to juvenile in Dec 16 gang-rape case `meagre`: Sushma Swaraj

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said the three-year sentence to the juvenile in the December 16 gang-rape case here is "meagre".

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Saturday said the three-year sentence to the juvenile in the December 16 gang-rape case here is "meagre" and that she will move a Private Member`s Bill for making punishment commensurate with offence whatever be the age of the offender.

"Damini case verdict-the most cruel of them all has been let off with just three years sentence in the name of a juvenile. This meagre punishment of just three years does not do justice to Damini," the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha said on her Twitter handle.

She maintained the sentence must be commensurate with the gravity of the offence, irrespective of the age of the offender.

"I am moving a private member`s Bill in this regard. At present, the law does not provide for this. We should amend the Juvenile Justice Act to provide that the sentence must be commensurate with the nature and gravity of the offence," she said.

Swaraj said her Private Member`s Bill was listed for introduction last Friday (August 23) and should come up on September 6.

Known for speaking on issues of women`s rights and their security, the BJP leader had said in Parliament last week during a discussion on the gang-rape of a photojournalist in Mumbai that hanging some culprits of the December 16 case will send a message and act as a deterrant.

Swaraj had also demanded in Parliament earlier that the law should provide for capital punishment in cases of heinous crimes like gang-rape.

PTI

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