PRIME MINISTER DIRECTED HOME MINISTER TO ENSURE SENSE OF SECURITY IN DELHI

PRIME MINISTER DIRECTED HOME MINISTER TO ENSURE SENSE OF SECURITY IN DELHI

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on22nd December,2012, Saturday directed Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to ensure sense of security in Delhi and see that incidents like last Sunday’s gang rape do not recur.The directive came when Mr. Shinde called Dr. Singh to brief him on the situation in the aftermath of the gang rape incident, sources said.Mr. Shinde told the Prime Minister that he was personally monitoring the situation.

Sources said the Prime Minister told Mr. Shinde that he should ensure a sense of security in the capital, whose law and order is the direct responsibility of the Home Minister.Dr. Singh asked Mr. Shinde to take all measures to see that there is no recurrence of the incidents like the recent gang rape of 23-year-old girl who was also brutally assaulted by the six accused.

As protests over the horrendous gangrape incident intensified, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking for swift and immediate action in the case.She also wanted the Prime Minister to ask the Home Minister to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to protect the victim, who is undergoing treatment in a city hospital.With the incident fuelling widespread outrage, Ms. Gandhi is learnt to have stressed for “action with immediate effect”.Her telephonic conversation with the Prime Minister follows two strongly-worded letters from her to Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit on December 18.In her letter to Mr. Shinde, the Congress president had said “It is a shame for us, who are responsible for the security of our cities that a young woman can be raped in a moving bus in the capital of the country and flung on to the street.”

She had also noted with concern that it was a “matter of shame” that such incidents happen with painful regularity.Gandhi had also visited the Safdarjung Hospital the same day to inquire about the condition of the 23-year-old victim, who was in a critical state, after Sunday night’s incident.In the letters, Ms. Gandhi had sought “strictest possible measures” to ensure that there is no recurrence of such a barbaric crime.The Congress leader said in her letter to Ms. Dikshit that “such violence and criminality needs not only to be condemned, it calls for a concerted effort to fight it.”Describing the incident as a “monstrous crime”, Ms. Gandhi said this deserves not only universal condemnation but also the “Government’s most urgent attention“.“It is imperative that the police and other agencies concerned are sensitised to the dangers that our daughters, sisters and mothers face everyday. The security agencies must be motivated, trained and equipped to deal with the menace. I hope you will initiate immediate action to remedy the situation,” Ms. Gandhi told the Home Minister.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Saturday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene a special session of Parliament for amending the existing law to provide death sentence for heinous crimes against women.“I have just spoken to Prime Minister. I requested Prime Minister for a special session of Parliament to frame a law to provide for exemplary punishment for crimes against women,” Ms. Swaraj said on social networking site Twitter.The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha claimed that the Prime Minister said he will consider this suggestion.She said the people were “genuinely angry” on the recent brutal rape incident of a 23-year-old paramedical student in Delhi and demanded that the perpetrators of such crime be given death sentence.“I have always maintained that rapist(s) should be punished with death sentence. I have also moved a private members Bill for this,” she said.She said she has already demanded in Lok Sabha on December 18 that rapists be given death sentence.Ms. Swaraj also spoke to Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath in this regard.

With student protesters turning violent at Raisina Hill, Union Minister RPN Singh on Saturday appealed to young protesters to show restraint and assured them that strictest action would be meted out to the accused in the paramedical student gang rape case.“We have assured on floor of the House and on every platform possible that strictest action will be taken against accused. Police has been asked to show restraint but I want to tell boys and girls breaking barriers won’t help,” the Minister of State for Home Affairs said.As the students marched towards Rashtrapati Bhavan, police erected barricades at the Vijay Chowk near South and North Blocks which house Home Ministry, Defence Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office.Police fired teargas shells and used water cannons to disperse hundreds of young students who were protesting for the second consecutive day at the high-security zone demanding justice for the 23-year-old gang rape victim.Police action came as ‘negotiations’ failed at the Raisina Hill leading to Rashtrapati Bhavan failed and the protesters, comprising largely young women and men, tried to breach the barricades to push towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The Delhi High Court on Friday slammed the police for being “evasive” in its probe status report in providing details of its officers on patrol duty in the area covered by the bus in which a young paramedical girl was gang raped for about 40 minutes.“In the (earlier) order, the police commissioner was also directed to file a report giving details of the police officers patrolling in the area and the action taken in this aspect.“On this aspect a report is filed... We have gone through the report and we are not convinced. None of the details of the police officers have been mentioned,” a bench headed by Chief Justice D Murugesan said.The court expressed its unhappiness and said, “We make it clear such a report, giving all the details, be filed without any delay.”The bench, also comprising Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, made the observation after perusing the status report filed by Delhi Police through its DCP Chhaya Sharma in pursuance of the earlier order by which the court had taken suo moto cognizance of the incident.

The hearing commenced with the court posing a query as to why the report was “evasive” about the details of the police officers who were on patrolling duty during the time when the girl was sexually assaulted and beaten for about 40 minutes in a moving bus on Sunday night.During the hearing, Justice Murugesan expressed his anguish and said, “It is an evasive report. You have not given any detail of police officers who were on duty. We will write in our order that a comprehensive report is not filed.”Najmi Waziri, appearing for the city police, tried to pacify the bench saying “I agree that more details should have come before the court. Entire bureaucracy is seized of the matter and our primary focus is to investigate the case.”He assured the bench that a more elaborate report will be filed later.The court has now fixed the matter for further hearing on January 9.

The bench had on December 19 taken suo motu cognisance of the gang rape incident and had decided to monitor its probe by directing police to carry a “high standard” investigation and file the chargesheet only after the court’s perusal.“Nobody is safe,” the court had said noting that such incidents repeatedly happen in the city.It had asked the police how the bus, having tinted glasses, kept plying on busy roads for 40 minutes and the sexual assault remained undetected.The court had directed the Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar to file a status report within two days giving all details.During today’s hearing, the court directed the Delhi Government to look into the lack of infrastructure and other facility at Central Forensice Science Laboratory (CFSL).“We are informed that there is no director at the CFSL and there are two deputy directors in the CFSL who are not competent and leads to delay of one to two years in the investigation.“Evidence is lost. They don’t accept any sample as there is shortage of chemicals also. If it is so, then please rectify it immediately,” the bench said.

The court, however, disallowed the plea of a woman lawyer that the 23-year-old girl be shifted to Apollo Hospital here.“As far as this request is concerned, we have already noted in our previous order that the victim, if possible be shifted to a super speciality hospital for the best treatment,” it said.The court allowed the submission of Waziri that the report be kept in sealed cover as it contains crucial and sensitive information relating to the ongoing probe in the case.

The simmering public anger against the gang-rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus in the city spilled over to institutions of the highest echelons of the government on Friday as protesters targeted North Block, South Block, Rail Bhavan and Supreme Court, with some even attempting to enter Rashtrapati Bhavan.Several activists of the Aam Aadmi Party, including Arvind Kejriwal, staged a protest near 10 Janpath, the residence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, demanding speedy justice to the victim. The activists, who marched to Ms. Gandhi’s residence after staging a demonstration at Jantar Mantar, sat there holding candles and shouting slogans against the government.A large number of protesters under the banner of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, the Young Women’s Christian Association and the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union marched from Rajpath and crossed the barricades at the entrance to Raisina Hill. The protesters, who raised slogans “We want justice” and seeking stringent punishment for the culprits, were stopped by the police when they tried to force their way into Rashtrapati Bhavan.“They say we need permission to enter there. Why do we need permission? Nobody takes any permission while attacking and harassing women. We are here to express our anger, hurt and outrage at the situation where women are forced to fend for themselves,” said a protester flashing a placard that read: “Don’t go out late at night. Explain ‘late’ please”, and “Don’t tell your daughter not to go out, tell your son to behave properly.”

The protests, which saw spontaneous participation by both men and women from different age groups and walks of life, demanded not just a comprehensive law to deal with rape but a radical change in the attitude of those in law and order agencies who put the onus of the shame on the victims instead.While protesting at Jantar Mantar, Mr. Kejriwal demanded that a law, making completion of trial of all rape cases within two months mandatory, be passed immediately. Referring to the rape of a German tourist in Jodhpur in 2006, he said the judge completed the trial within 16 days. “If the Jodhpur judge can do this in 16 days, why can’t that be adopted by the entire judiciary as the practice for rape cases?” he asked.Some people also protested outside the Safdarjung Hospital.

Prof. John Kurakar