Chitradurga : Minister for Women and Child Welfare Umashree on Sunday said that the State government would recommend the Centre to award capital punishment to rapists. Since the states did not enjoy the powers to do so, they would appeal the Central government, she said.

Umashree was in Chitradurga to attend a preliminary meeting to discuss the State-level meeting of Sthree Shakti Sanghas. After the meeting, the minister was besieged by the members of the district unit of the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat (ABVP), in front of the Zilla Panchayat auditorium. The members handed her a memorandum demanding capital punishment to rapists.

Comparing rapists to wild beasts, the minister said ever since the Congress government came to power, the police had been warned to handle such cases with an iron hand.