The demand for death penalty in rape cases was raised strongly in Rajya Sabha on Monday as members, cutting across party lines, expressed shock and grief over the gruesome rape of a five-year-old child in Delhi recently.
The members also urged the Government to hold an all-party meeting to discuss additional measures required to be included in the recently-enacted anti-rape legislation to make it more stringent in order to prevent recurrence of such crimes.
The debate also saw Congress and BJP members clashing and accusing each other of politicizing the rape issue. While the BJP attacked the Congress for the Government’s failure in checking rising incidents of rape, the ruling party highlighted occurrence of such incidents in Opposition ruled States like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat.
Initiating the debate, BJP leader Maya Singh expressed shock that a candle and bottle were found in the rape victim’s body. She said that a police officer was seen slapping a woman protester and police gave the victim’s family Rs 2,000 not to lodge a complaint. “This showed the utter failure of the Delhi Police,” she said. She also said that the National Commission for Women had failed to protect women.
She demanded that since the culprit had already admitted to his crime, he should be immediately hanged instead of going through the lengthy procedure of a trial.
“Also, the Government must call an all-party meeting so that any lacunae in the recently-enacted law can be filled and it becomes an effective deterrent,” she said.
Congress MP Prabha Thakur highlighted the high number of rape incidents in MP, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Bihar. But when the BJP members objected to her targeting Opposition-ruled States and not raising the incidents in Delhi, she launched a counter offensive by accusing the Opposition of focusing on the JPC issue and not showing concern over the plight of rape victims.
An emotional Thakur described the plight of rape victims and their families and demanded that the accused should be publically hanged.
BSP leader Mayawati pointed out that a large number of SC/ST women were subjected to such atrocities and said that Haryana led the country in this regard.
She said that in view of the rising number of crimes against women in Uttar Pradesh, BSP leaders had recently met the Governor demanding imposition of President’s Rule in the State and demanded that the Home Minister must consider this.
JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari said that the rape of a five-year-old child had made him ashamed of being a man and attributed such heinous acts to degrading moral values of society. CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said that studies have revealed that India fares very badly as compared to other nations where safety and security of women is concerned. Highlighting the low judge-population ratio, he asked the Government to effectively enforce laws and ensure justice to victims of such beastly crimes.
Trinamool Congress leader KD Singh claimed that crime against women has come down in West Bengal due to setting up of all-women police stations and fast track courts in every district. He also demanded physical castration of rape accused.
Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said that growing vulgarity in media and society is responsible for high incidence of rapes and said that a dozen more laws need to be amended to check such crimes.