Supreme Court has ruled that rapists should be awarded a minimum sentence of 7 years which can be reduced only in special circumstances. The apex court ticked off the Rajasthan High Court for reducing the punishment of two convicts in a rape case saying that such an order is violative of the mandatory requirement of law and has defeated the legislative mandate.

A bench of justices B S Chauhan and Dipak Misra passed the judgement while upholding an appeal filed by the Rajasthan Government challenging the high
court's decision to reduce the sentence on two rapists without recording any special reasons for taking the lenient view.