President President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday gave his assent to an ordinance on criminal law amendments to prevent sexual violence against women — two days after its approval by the cabinet. Despite Parliament’s budget session being less than three weeks away, the UPA government had acted swiftly on the Justice JS Verma panel’s recommendations and brought stricter anti-rape provisions via ordinance.

Going beyond the panel’s suggestions, the new law provides for the death penalty in rape cases where the victim dies or is left in a permanent vegetative state as a result of the crime.

A few women’s organisations had appealed to Mukherjee not to approve the ordinance, saying its provisions weren’t harsh enough.