Church leaders doubt the effectiveness of India introducing the death penalty for child rape following a nationwide call for stringent laws to end the menace.

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind on April 22 promulgated an ordinance authorizing capital punishment for those convicted of raping girls under the age of 12, a day after the cabinet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the proposal.

The government rushed through the emergency law, which needs to be ratified in the next sitting of parliament, amid outrage over increasing cases of rape and murder of children.

“The ordinance appeared to be a knee-jerk reaction to console public anger,” said Catholic nun and social worker Sister Lizy Thomas in Madhya Pradesh State. She doubted if the death penalty or longer jail terms could help curb rapes.

India reported 10 more cases of child rape on the day the law was promulgated, according to media reports.

The most discussed case has been the gang rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in the Hindu- dominated Jammu area that was allegedly committed to drive her Muslim community away from the area.