Chandigarh, July 12: The Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana, in a landmark move, has decided to stall all government benefits being given to any person who is accused of rape or molestation. Chief Minister Khattar, while addressing a women welfare programme at the Indradhanush Auditorium in Panchkula, announced the decision taken by his government.

Under the new rule, any person accused of rape or molestation will be devoid of government benefits including ration, pension, driving licence among other programmes. The benefits will be stalled until the verdict of the case is out. If the person is convicted, the benefits will be completely taken away.

This comes months after the Khattar government's decision to give death penalty to those convicted of raping minor girls. In March this year, the Haryana Assembly had unanimously passed a Bill which provides for death penalty to those found guilty of raping girls aged 12 years or less.

After Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Haryana became the third State where the Assembly approved the provision of capital punishment for such sexual offenders, the House was informed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 12, 2018 06:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).