Indian Penal Code, 1860
Section 376DA
repealedPunishment for gang rape on woman under sixteen years of age
Where a woman under sixteen years of age is raped by one or more persons constituting a group or acting in furtherance of a common intention, each of those persons shall be deemed to have committed the offence of rape and shall be punished with imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s natural life, and with fine:1
Why this exists
This section was introduced by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, in response to intense public outrage over brutal child gang rape cases, imposing an even harsher, non-negotiable punishment, mandatory life imprisonment, compared to the twenty-years-to-life range for ordinary gang rape, reflecting the compounded severity of a crime that is both a gang assault and committed against a child. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 retains a comparable provision for gang rape of a girl under sixteen.
How courts read it
Courts treat the mandatory life imprisonment under this section as leaving essentially no sentencing discretion once the elements, gang rape and the victim's age under sixteen, are proven, applying the same principle of collective liability seen in ordinary gang rape cases, where every group member is held equally responsible regardless of individual role.