DHAKA — Bangladesh’s Cabinet on Monday approved measures to allow for the death penalty for rape following widespread protests across the country against sexual violence.

A meeting led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the plan to amend the country’s Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told reporters in Dhaka.

President Abdul Hamid is likely to issue an ordinance by Tuesday to enact the new law as parliament is currently not in session, according to the country's Law Minister Anisul Huq.

A presidential declaration on Tuesday is expected to put the provision into law by amending the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, officials said. Parliament is not in session because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The amendment comes as protests against sexual violence faced by women have erupted across the South Asian nation. The assault of a woman by a group of men in the southeastern Noakhali district set and the gang rape of a woman in the northeastern area of Sylhet have set off recent widespread protests.

Anisul Huq, the Bangladeshi minister for law, said on Monday that the government hoped that the new measure would act as a deterrent and lead to a significant drop in rape cases. But rights groups have said that simply enacting harsher punishments for offenders is insufficient. — Agencies