Sri Lanka to tighten mandatory imprisonment for rapes and child abuses

Oct 21, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to amend the penal code to tighten the mandatory imprisonment for the offenders of rapes and child abuses, Prison Reforms Minister Thilak Marapana said. According to government statistics 311 rape and 5,762 child abuse cases have been reported in the year 2014.



Even though under the existing penal code there is an imprisonment of 7 years for these offences; the Supreme Court also has discretion to give an alternate sentence.

“The question is that how this discretional power is being used.

60 to 70 percent of the child abuses are committed by school children around 15 years of age,” Marapana told Parliament Wednesday. “So the court may consider it as a result of a love affair and not as a criminal offence.





That’s why there is a light sentence for them.

But it may not be the reason every time.” Marapana said they have proposed to consider the age gap between the two when deciding a child abuse case as a criminal offence. “The cases are different when 12 years old girl raped even with her consent by a 25 year old man and an incident between 15 years old girl and 18 years old boy.

” he further said. Meanwhile, the government has conducted 67,135 drug raids in 2014, minister reveled Parliament.