India to introduce death penalty, life sentence for mob lynching, gang rape

India's government has unveiled new punishments for mob lynchings and crimes against women in a proposal for the country's biggest criminal justice overhaul since the British colonial era.

India's Penal Code and other statutes governing the police and courts were introduced in the 19th century, while the country was governed by the British crown.

Sweeping changes to the laws would remove archaic references to the British monarchy and other "signs of our slavery", home minister Amit Shah told parliament Friday.

New provisions in the laws, which intend to better protect women, would make sexual exploitation on the pretext of marriage, employment or promotion, or through the use of a hidden identity, a crime.

The legislation would make a gang rape conviction punishable by a maximum life sentence. Raping a child would be eligible for a death sentence, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

The legislation would allow penalties ranging from seven years in prison to death for mob lynching.

The bills introduce community service provisions for petty crimes to ease the chronic backlog of criminal cases in Indian courts, which have millions of pending cases.

The government also proposed legislation in that seeks to replace a British colonial-era sedition law with its own version.

The latest move comes as the government is reeling from opposition pressure over the Manipur rape case.

In July, a video of two women stripped and paraded naked by a mob in the northeastern state of Manipur went viral, creating uproar among the public.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government has also sought to remove lingering symbols of colonial rule from India's history books, urban landscape and political institutions.

It has renovated the capital New Delhi's parliamentary precinct, originally designed by the British, to replace old colonial-era structures.

Last year Modi inaugurated a statue of Subhas Chandra Bose, an independence hero venerated for taking up arms against the British, but controversial for his collaboration with Nazi Germany's war machine.

The unveiling ceremony took place just hours before Britain announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and the statue itself replaces one of Britain's King George V torn down nearly half a century ago.

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Source: TRT