Imo slams life jail on rapists, criminalizes violence Any rapist caught henceforth in Imo State risks spending the rest of life behind the bars. This provision is contained in a new law which makes all forms of violence in the state a crime. The new law which is cited as Imo State of Nigeria Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law No. 12 of 2012 was passed by the state legislature last year. The state governor, Rochas Okorocha has since given his assent to the law which was the joint effort of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Development Dynamics and Hon. Adaku Ihuoma, Majority Leader of the state legislature. It prescribes life jail for rapists but in the event that a judge wants to exercise his discretion, the law stipulates that the judge cannot give a rapist anything less than 12 years imprisonment without an option of fine. It adds that each rapist in a case of gang-rape would bag a minimum of 20 years without an option of fine, pointing out that the court would also award appropriate compensation to the victims of rape. Other offences which the law also criminalizes include female genital mutilation, causing physical harm to another, obnoxious widowhood practices, forceful eviction of spouses, battering of spouses, acid bath, political thuggery, indecent expose of private organs, and corporeal punishment to children at home and pupils at school. The law also stipulates life jail for acid bath and varying years of imprisonment for other offences. Meanwhile the law has been described as the most important law to be enacted in the state. Project Director of Development Dynamics, Dr. Jude Ohanele made the remark during a communication strategy meeting on the law held on Monday in Owerri. Dr. Ohanele maintained that no state or country would achieve accelerated progress except violence is addressed. He frowned at corporeal punishment on children and wards, stressing that children could still be properly brought up without inflicting physical pains on them. He maintained that corporeal punishment has not yielded any fruitful result since the country has not fared any better all these years that children had been spanked in a bid to make them responsible citizens. Also speaking, Dr. Sunbo Odebode, Gender Development Specialist, UNICEF appealed to the state government to set up the regulating agency that would supervise the implementation of the law in the state. She also called for the creation of awareness about the law. Participants at the communication strategy meeting had suggested the use of jingles, handbills, talk-shows, seminars, billboards and press statements to create awareness about the law.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 13:50:54 +0000
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