Islamabad, Jan. 24 (TNS): The Senate Standing Committee on Interior has proposed an amendment in the Pakistan Penal Code to publicly hang convicts found guilty of kidnapping, murdering, or raping children less than 14 years of age.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act 2018 seeks to amend the PPC’s Section 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of 14).
“Whoever kidnaps or abducts any person under the [age of fourteen] in order that such person may be murdered or subjected to grievous hurt… or to the lust of any person [sic] shall be punished with death,” the law currently reads. The amendment seeks to add the words “by hanging publicly” at the end after the word “death” to Section 364-A.
In a letter to the Secretariat earlier this week, Senator Rehman Malik, who is the chairman of the standing committee, has urged the Senate to take up the bill before the current session ends.
The proposed amendment comes as the Punjab government arrested a key suspect over the horrific rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab Amin from Kasur—a case that has left the nation shocked and devastated.
