Child rights campaigners are commending the courts for swiftly moving in to start meting out stiffer sentences to rapists.

Most of the rape and defilement cases now attract a jail term of 21 years, as observed by recent court sentences.

The courts had been giving a maximum of 14 years, a move that pushed rights campaigners to stage protests against lenient sentences.

The activists demanded stiffer punishments, including the death penalty, arguing that other rape survivors are left with lifelong injuries.

Chairperson of the NGO Gender Coordination Network-GCN Barbara Banda applauds the trend, pointing out that it is what they have been advocating for.