Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF) today issued a statement demanding death penalty for the rapists of children by bringing them under the law at the quickest.

According to the statement signed by BSAF Director Abdus Shaheed Mahmud, a total of 496 children were raped in the first six months of this year and of them, 53 were gang-raped.

Twenty-seven out of the 496 children were physically challenged while 23 children were killed after rape, the statement said.

Besides, 74 children were made victims of attempted rape in the last six months, it added.   

This year, the incidents of child rape have increased by 41 per cent from last year.  A total of 571 incidents of child rape took place in 12 months last year.

“We are very alarmed at the rate of these kinds of incidents”, it said urging the authorities to change the current law with a provision for death by hanging as punishment for the rapist of children.

The statement also identified lack of exemplary punishment, weak charge sheets, lengthy trial processes and decay of social values as reasons for increasing such crimes.

It is the demand of time that the authorities and people in general do their best to ensure the safety of every child by giving them a proper childhood, the statement said.