New Delhi: In a  historic move the Lok Sabha on Monday passed a decisive bill which permits courts to award capital punishment or death penalty to child rape convicts.

The new bill will include the convicts of raping minor girls below the age of 12. The approval of this bill has put back the Criminal Law Ordinance which was constituted on April 21 after an 8-year-old girl in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir was abducted, raped and murdered.

About 2 hours discussion the bill was passed. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju in a favour of passed bill said that the law was made rigid to ensure the safety of minor girls during the discussion.

In his argument he said that since the present Indian Penal Code provided sentence for those who found guilty for raping women, the provisions proposed by the Modi –led government were very important.

In addition Rijiju noted that the “the offences of rape and gangrape of women under the age of 12-16 years require effective deterrence through legal provisions of more stringent punishment,” as per PTI quoted.

The passed bill awards a death sentence for rapists of girls under the age of 12 years. For the rape of girls under the age of 16 years, the punishment will perpetually be captivity until the death of the convict.