Bangladesh makes rape punishable by death after spate of incidents

Bangladesh on Tuesday made rape punishable by death, amid countrywide protests against growing incidents of rape and other violence against women and girls.An ordinance issued by President Abdul Hamid amends a provision of the Prevention of Women and Children Repression Act 2000 that stipulated a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for rape.According to the amended ordinance, "lifetime rigorous imprisonment" mentioned in Section 9(1) of the act has been replaced by "death or lifetime rigorous punishment."The move came following a spate of rape incidents and after a recent video clip showi…READ FULL ARTICLE