Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna has signed the state penal code (amendment) law 2020.

In a document seen by the media, the law, which took effect on September 11, stipulates strict penalties for males and females convicted of rape.

The new law is an amendment to the state’s penal code law No. 5 2017. The state penal law prescribed 21 years imprisonment for rape of an adult and life imprisonment in the case of a child.

But the new provisions include bilateral salpingectomy (removal of the two fallopian tubes) for female convicts and castration for male convicts.

It also included the punishment of death for the offenders, while their names will be listed in the sex offenders register and published.

“Whoever commits rape of a child below the age of fourteen years shall on conviction, be punished with surgical castration and death,” it read.

“Whoever has sexual intercourse with a male child below the age of fourteen years shall be punished with surgical castration and death.

“Where a female adult is convicted for the offence of rape of a child, the court shall punish the accused with bilateral salpingectomy and death.

“Where the victim is above fourteen years, the court shall on conviction sentence the accused with punishment of surgical castration and life imprisonment.

“Where the convict is a child, the court shall order as appropriate under the Children and Young Persons Law Cap 26 Laws of Kaduna State 1991.

“Where the victim is a child, the court shall in addition to the conviction under sub-section (1) and (2) order that the convict be listed in the sex offenders register to be published in the media by the Attorney General.

“Where the court is trying the offence of rape involving a child below the age of fourteen (14) years, corroboration of medical report shall be necessary.

Amid incessant cases of rape, the governor had earlier advocated stiff punishment for convicts, saying that they may assault more persons after serving their jail term.

“In addition to life imprisonment or 21 years’ imprisonment, anyone convicted of rape will have his organ surgically removed so that even after he finishes his term, he will not be able to rape anyone again,” el-Rufai had said.

“So long as the tool exists, there is the likelihood that he may go back to do it again. Most of the perpetrators are young people, so even after 21 years, they can come back and continue.”

The Cable