MPs raise issue of rising rape cases in India

Members of Parliament spoke against the recent cases of rapes in various parts of the country, including the one of a young veterinarian in Hyderabad.

As soon as the House met for the day, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said he would allow members to raise the “serious issue” in Zero Hour.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the government was ready for a discussion in Lok Sabha on the issue of crime against women, and willing to explore stringent provisions in laws to check incidents like the Hyderabad rape and murder case. He said that he was falling short of words to condemn the heinous crime. “We are ready for discussions in the House so that stringent provisions in laws could be explored to give punishment to those involved in such ghastly incidents,” he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy (Congress) raised the issue of the rape and murder of the 26-year-old veterinarian and slammed the Telangana Home Minister for his purported “insensitive” remarks. He also slammed the state police for initially delaying to lodge a case. DMK’s TR Baalu raised the issue of sexual assault of a school girl in Coimbatore.

Saugat Roy (TMC) said rape convicts should be hanged. Pinaki Misra (BJD) questioned the delay in executing the death sentence awarded to convicts in the “Nirbhaya” gang-rape case. He said laws and establishment on fast track courts will not make a differences till the time the death sentences are not executed.

In the Rajya Sabha, members made demands for death penalty for rapists, lynching of convicts in public and castration.

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu rejected adjournment motions on the gang-rape and murder of a young woman veterinarian in Hyderabad, but allowed members to make brief mentions on the same and other such incidents elsewhere in the country.

Members cutting across party lines condemned the recent spurt in crime against women, and demanded stringent laws that punishes the guilty within a fixed time-frame.

Calls for stringent punishment

While Naidu described the Hyderabad incident as a disgrace to humanity, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the society will have to tackle this problem at its root. “The guilty should be given stringent punishment without any discrimination of religion or caste,” Azad said.

Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachchan wanted security personnel in-charge of the area in Hyderabad where the crime took place be held accountable and questions be asked. She said the rapists should be “brought out in public and lynched.”

DMK’s P Wilson said courts should be empowered to surgically and chemically castrate convicted rapists before they are released from jails so as to check repeat offenders. The cost of such procedure should be recovered from the accused by selling his assets, he said, adding list of sexual offenders should also be made public.

Mohd. Ali Khan of the Congress wanted timelines be set for trial of accused in fast track courts and the accused not be given an religious colour. The accused in the Hyderabad incident belong to four separate religions and not one, he said.

Sanjay Singh of the Aam Adami Party (AAP) said stringent action in all cases of sexual assault on women should be taken after a trial in fast track court and punishment given within a timeframe. Amar Patnaik of the BJD demanded death for such heinous crimes.

While T K Rangarajan of CPM said laws be framed to tackle crime are not percolating down, Vaiko of the DMK wanted concrete action be taken to deal with such crimes. Santanu Sen of the TMC wanted strong steps be taken for give out exemplary punishment to the guilty.

Raising the issue of delay in police action in the Hyderabad incident over jurisdiction dispute between police stations, Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar (TDP) wanted capital punishment be given to the rapists in public.

While Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD) said deterrence is not enough, RK Sinha of the BJP said capital punishment is yet to be given to the guilty of the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi due to appeals in the case. Vijila Sathyananth (AIAMDK) demanded fast track courts to trial in rape cases as well as a complete ban on sale of drugs that was fuelling such incidents.

The charred body of the 25-year old woman, who worked as an assistant veterinarian at a state-run hospital, was found under a culvert in Shadnagar in Hyderabad on November 28, a day after she went missing. Four men, all lorry workers, aged between 20 and 24, were arrested on November 29 on charges of raping and killing the woman and had been sent to judicial custody for 14 days on Saturday.