Kaduna State House of Assembly on Wednesday adopted a motion to enact a law prescribing life imprisonment for rapists.
Moving the motion, Alhaji Muhammad Ali (CPC-Kawo), urged the House to prescribe severe penalty against rape and sexual molestation in the state.
Ali premised the motion on the declining social morality and increase in the number of reported cases of rape involving the girl-child, and sexual molestation of women in the state.
“I move that the legislature do resolve and advice the state government to, as a matter of urgency, use necessary legislation to control the menace,’’ he said.According to him, sections 282 and 285 of the Panel Code were inadequate to deal with such cases.
Ali noted that high profile offenders were walking the streets free as if they were above the law.
“It is time for this honorable house to shade off all ambiguity and rescue our collective social morality by insisting and ensuring that the enforcement of our laws are done appropriately by the relevant agencies of the state,’’ he said.
Ali suggested that anybody convicted of rape should spend the rest of his life behind bars.
The motion was unanimously adopted by members who also commended the mover for his concern.
In his contribution, the Deputy Speaker, Mr Peter Adamu (PDP-Kagarko), commended Ali for moving the motion, and urged his colleagues to support it to halt declining social values.
He said anyone engaged in rape should be punished according to the law, adding that women should also be encouraged to dress decently.
Mr Kantiok Irimiya (PDP-Zonkwa), said that incidence of rape was becoming alarming, adding that if victims of rape had not reported the issue nobody would know.
He said the problem was non-reporting of rape cases by victims because of stigmatisation.
He said it was animalistic for a man to pounce on a woman without her consent, adding: “but women should protect themselves by dressing decently so as to protect themselves from been victims of rape’’.
In his contribution, Mr Dogara Matoh (PDP-Lere), said there was an existing law on rape, adding that the problem was lack of enforcement, and called for its amendment.
Alhaji Haliru Sambo (PDP-Ikara), called for a provision in the law to deal with women who dress indecently, adding that most rape cases were due to indecent dressing.
Sambo also urged parents to ensure that they did not allow their children to dress indecently.
After deliberation, Speaker Usman Tahir referred the motion to the House Committee on Judiciary for further study.
Tahir asked the committee to report to the House on April 9 for more legislative action. (NAN)
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