IANS
New Delhi, January 11
The Supreme Court on Monday said parliament may think of statutory provisions providing for harsher punishment for those accused of rape and abuse of minor children.
A bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice N.V.Ramana said this while hearing a petition filed by Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association seeking castration of child rape convicts as it cited a spurt in such incidents involving even toddlers.
The SCWLA had sought distinction between minor as defined in the Juvenile Justice law and the few days, a few months or a few years old child being abused and raped.
The bench told the petitioner’s lawyer Mahalakshmi Pavani that emotions and sentiments could not be a basis for framing of laws for providing stringent punishment for convicts.
It noted Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi’s submission that law-making power was within the domain of parliament and the same could not be exercised by courts.
Telling Pavani that it (court) could not suggest a punishment that was not there under the law, the court said: “We must make it clear that courts do not create offences or introduce punishment.”
Leaving the entire issue to the “wisdom of the parliament”, the court said “punishment has to be definitive”.
