The nation’s outrage over the gang-rape of a photojournalist in Mumbai spilled over to the Supreme Court on Monday which took a grim view of the prevailing law and order situation in the country.
Unable to fathom the reason behind the rise in rape cases of late, the bench of Justices RM lodha and Madan B lokur sought to know, “Why is it happening again and againIJ” The Bench was worried over the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies to prevent such crimes. Dealing with a petition where a rape victim’s father complained of harassment by the accused, the Court asked all States and Centre to inform about the rehabilitation and compensation mechanism for rape victims and schemes framed under it.
“Something seems to have broken down in the society,” the Bench remarked, while commenting on the
high rate of acquittal in rape cases. Despite SC
guidelines in 1994 putting in place a scheme to compensate rape victims and kin of those victims who are murdered, the Court asked the Haryana Police in particular, which in the instant case had failed to protect the victim and her family and paid a paltry sum of Rs 60,000 to the victim.
The incident was of August last year when a minor girl was gang-raped by influential persons of village Chotikalsi in Nilokhadi tehsil of Haryana.
The accused kept threatening her and even killed her mother. The family suffered social boycott and still lived under a threat from the accused to withdraw the case.
Outrage resonates in lok Sabha
New Delhi: The lok Sabha on Monday witnessed outrage over the gang-rape of a young photojournalist in Mumbai with many members demanding death for the culprits even as Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde assured them of expeditious action against the accused.
His assurance came after leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj asked whether any time-frame has been set for prosecuting those found guilty of the crime, while pointing out that those accused in the December 16 gang-rape in Delhi had not yet been sentenced.
“You hang one or two of these beasts fast ... And these incidents will stop,” an agitated Swaraj said amid thumping of desks and support by several members from various parties.