TNI Bureau: As the protests over the recent gangrape and death of a 23-year-old student in Delhi continues across the country, the Union Government is also planning to strengthen the law. Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has written to all political parties inviting suggestions for amendment i the law dealing with rape.
Parties including the BJP and the BSP have been demanding a special session of Parliament to discuss the amendments and for enacting stringent laws to deter rape.
BJP today suggested maximum punishment to the accused in rape cases– either death Penalty or chemical castration. Senior BJP leader Venkaih Naidu said, “There should be maximum punishment to the rapists, death penalty, or emasculation (chemical castration of the rapist).”
The concern was visible in the Congress Party as well.
Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, defying their protocol and braving chilly weather, went to the IGI Airport at 3.30am on Sunday morning to receive the remains of mortal who was flown in from Singapore.
The 23-year old victim, who was raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus on December 16 in Delhi, breathed her last in Singapore on Saturday.
Gandhi wants fast-track courts to try rape cases and award punishment in three months to ensure speedy justice.
Another congress leader Renuka Chowdhury had yesterday proposed a tougher law to check crime against women, which includes punishment of chemical castration of the rapists in rare cases.
Justice J S Verma Committee, which was set up on December 23 to rewrite the rape laws, has also sought suggestions from individuals, NGOs, women’s groups and others by the first week of January.
Under the existing law, the maximum punishment for rape is life term but the nationwide outrage over the December 16 horrific gangrape in Delhi has sparked a demand for death penalty to rapists for such heinous crime.