Farooq Abdullah calls for mandatory death penalty in Kathua like case

Srinagar : National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Sunday urged Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti-led state government to call for a special assembly session to bring in a law of capital punishment in Kathua like cases.

Abdullah said, "We will bring a bill in the next assembly session where any such incidences that take place, hanging must be brought in, capital punishment has to be brought in for those people. Let government take a decision on this and call a special session of the Assembly just for this thing."

"If a special session of Assembly is called, this bill will be passed, this will be a great thing for the future and such crimes won't take place. Now they (PDP and BJP) are in power here, they must call for a special Assembly session where this bill can be passed," he added.

Earlier, a People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader had informed that their government would soon bring a law which would make the death penalty mandatory for those who rape minors.

In Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, an eight-year-old Muslim nomadic girl was allegedly abducted, drugged, gangraped, tortured and killed. After being missing for a week, her body was found on January 17.

The recent investigation into the January incident has unfolded the gory details of the crime that was allegedly committed inside a temple where the girl was sedated, raped a multiple times, and later murdered and thrown in the woods.

In recent developments on the case, two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, Chandra Prakash Ganga and Lal Singh, resigned following accusations of attending a rally in support of the miscreants responsible for the crime.