Haryana to enact law to hang those raping girls aged 12 and below

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, January 20

In light of the reported rape cases in Haryana in the past week, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said they would enact a law to hang those convicted of raping girls aged 12 and below.

He said they would also approach the judiciary for setting up fast-track courts for dealing with rape cases to ensure speedy justice to the victims.

“I am pained over the rape incidents. Though, the police are dealing with these cases, we have decided to bring in a legislation of hanging those raping girls aged 12 and below. We will also approach the judiciary for speedy judgment in such cases,” Khattar said.

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He was speaking on the Karnal Sugar Mill premises where he laid the foundation stone of the new Karnal cooperative sugar mill instead of the existing mill, which started working in 1976-77.

It was a long-pending demand of the sugarcane farmers of the region. A sum of Rs 225 crore will be incurred on it and the crushing capacity of the mill will increase from the existing 2,200 tonne crushed per day (TCD) to 3,500 TCD.

While addressing the gathering, Khattar referred to a study saying around 75 per cent of such crimes were committed by those known to the victims. “Society should criticise such crimes and help the police, he said.

He appealed to the media not to create sensation and publish such news only after verifying the facts.

Khattar said the law-and-order situation had improved in the state in the past three years as compared to under the previous governments. He said that earlier people had to run from pillar to post to get an FIR registered, whereas now anyone could get it done easily.

Reacting to the demand raised by Chander Parkash Kathuria, chairman, Sugarfed, Haryana, the CM also announced the widening of the Karnal-Meerut road up to the UP border for relief to commuters.

Kathuria said the widening of the road was also a long-pending demand of the people and it would help sugarcane farmers bring their crop to the sugar mill easily. He thanked the CM for laying the foundation stone of the new mill.

The CM said the mill would produce 15 MW electricity of which 4.5 MW was needed for the mill and the rest would be sold to the Power Corporation. It will also produce refined sugar.

Manish Grover, Minister of State for Cooperation, highlighted the features of the mill and counted the steps being taken by the state government for the welfare of sugarcane farmers.

Harvinder Kalyan, chairman, HAFED, said the mill would provide benefit to the farmers of more than 200 villages and most of them were from Gharaunda block. A cheque for Rs 50 crore was handed over to the CM by Kalyan and another cheque for a similar amount by Gulshan Bhatia, chairman, Haryana State Cooperative Apex Bank, as debt to the Karnal sugar mill.