India's convicted sex offenders will have their names, photographs and addresses published, in a highly controversial measure by the government to tackle growing anger after a series of high-profile sex attacks in the country.
Protests have been ongoing since the brutal gang rape of a Delhi student on a local bus by six men, leaving her hospitalised with serious internal injuries.
Medics describe her condition as "critical" and she has been moved to a specialist hospital in Singapore.
Indian students protesting against the gang-rape of a student in a moving bus
She has a "brain injury" and internal organs have been removed, The Times of India reported.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured that those found guilty of lapses in the aftermath of the incident will not be spared.
"We are committed to bringing the guilty to justice as soon as possible," Singh said, adding that best possible medical care was being provided to the victim.
Minister of state for home affairs, RPN Singh, is to meet police chief, officials, womens' rights activists and academics on Friday to start the proocess.
"We are planning to start the process [of identification] in Delhi. Photographs, names and addresses of the rapists will be uploaded on the Delhi police website also," Singh said in a statement.
Women's rights campaigners have backed the move.
As someone who dreaded the daily onslaught of revolting stares, lewd gestures and 'accidental' brush of the passing male on public transport, while growing up in big city India, I for one, fully support the Indian government's move to name and shame sex offenders.
I realise that to the Western world, this seems like an open invitation to vigilantism, but extreme times like now - when men accused of sexual violence still go ahead and stand for elections in India - call for extreme measures.
This may just be the most powerful deterrent to the perpetrators, for what it ensures is loss of face and lack of a future - both extremely important in Indian society - for the violators and something that not even the fear of a death sentence delivers.
For too long has the common woman in India lived like second-class citizens. It is time we were treated like the very goddesses so revered in Indian culture and tradition.
Ranjana Kumari, director of Delhi's Centre for Social Research told The Guardian: "It is true that there is a risk of such attacks but at the moment it is the victim who has to suffer the shame and social ostracism.
"She can't get married, for example. This will make sure the rapist is shamed. He won't get a job, or somewhere to live and will be cut off from society. This is a powerful deterrent."
New stories, emerging every day in India media, have fuelled the anger. A 42-year-old was assaulted by a gang in Delhi, a 21-year-old claimed to have been raped in the office of a senior lawmaker.
Police stand behind a barricade covered by a banner calling for capital punishment againt rape
The goverment has also been responding to public anger over sex offenses by seizing the weapon licences and driving licenses of perpetrators of sexual crimes, the Indian Express reported.
One other punishment called for by many protesters is chemical castration, according to Gulf News.
Judge Kamini Lau suggested exploring the option of ‘chemical castration’ after sentencing a man to life in prison for raping his six-year-old niece.
She said: "Castration is the most befitting sentence which can be imposed on any pedophile or serial offender.
"But the hands of this court are tied as the statute does not provide for it. Indian legislators are yet to explore this as an alternative to conventional sentencing
Lau had directed that her judgment be sent to the Ministry of Law and also the National Commission for Women to consider her suggestion of castration.
In the US, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin all allow chemical castration.