Under immense pressure to take concrete measures to ensure safety of women in the wake of the gang-rape of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi that led to large-scale protests, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday set up a Commission of Inquiry to identify lapses and fix responsibility for the incident.
The Commission, to be headed by the former Delhi High Court judge, Justice Usha Mehra, will also suggest measures to make Delhi and the National Capital Region safer for women. It has been asked to submit a report within three months, which will be tabled in Parliament with action taken by the government.
Amid this development, the Centre ruled out giving control of the city police to the Delhi government for now, saying the responsibility of law and order in the capital should remain with the Union government. “This is not the time to debate positions. Let us restore normalcy in Delhi. These issues can be flagged for debate,” Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
On allegations by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit that police officers had interfered in the recording of statement of the victim, Mr. Chidambaram said the Home Minister had told the Cabinet that an internal probe by a senior officer was ordered into it.
He, however, refused to comment on the confrontation between Ms. Dikshit and Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar over developments surrounding the recording of the statement.
The Justice Mehra Commission will be in addition to a three-member panel headed by the former Chief Justice of India, J.S. Verma. The committee will suggest changes in law to provide for quicker trial and stringent punishment in “aggravated sexual assault” cases amid demands for death penalty.
During the Cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, several Ministers were reported to have said the government should ensure the recovery of the victim and instil a sense of safety among women.
Mr. Chidambaram said the government was working on ensuring punishment for the guilty, finding out what went wrong and amending laws dealing with crimes against women to provide for more stern penalty and faster trials. It was a matter of shame that the incident happened in Delhi and that the Central government had special responsibility. He admitted that the developments of the last one week showed a “new phenomenon” of “flash mobs” resorting to protests and that the government was not fully prepared to deal with such situations.
Keywords: Delhi gang rape, Rajpath protests, student protests, P. Chidambaram, Cabinet meeting, Manmohan Singh, gang rape case, Delhi Police Commissioner, inquiry commission
Chindambaram thinks delhi police is only for protecting politicians and their wives and Neeraj
is also confirming. You think all Indians are nuts nowadays.
Safety should be for women, but it should not be forgotten that Law and Order is lacking in all its perspective.Are senior citizens safe,lot of road rage with goons and hoodlums roaming at odd hours on the road.Gentleman cannot manage these , who start fighting at the smallest cause you can ever think of.
Mandate of the Commission of Inquiry is too narrow. The problem is
not one rape. Problem is slack law and order all over the country. We
frequently read incidents where bunch of people illegally enter into a
property and attack individual(s). One do not need to be a brain
surgeon to realize that if police were neutral and independent and
professionally motivated and IF victims have more confidence in police
and in his/her rights of self defense, then criminals will think twice
before thinking of an attack. Decision of Union Cabinet will turn out
to be just another trick to do nothing and deflect public anger. Shame
and misfortune have bunch together.
1)When Prime minister's second bypass surgery can happen in India why
this girl has to be shifted to Singapore? Govt wants to make
camouflage on its worsening name if the girls condition becomes fatal?
2)When a negligibly small country can have adequate infrastructure for this grave situation why not India? Why ? Money swindled in 2G Spectrum and Asian games would have been sufficient to have such infrastructure in every state of India.
3)Add in the constitution that if measures are not taken within 30 days against the culprits the HOME MINISTER to loose the civic right for 10 years.
How is it possible to make Delhi or any other city safe for women when it is not safe for men? Was Delhi safe for Sikhs in 1984? Was Ahmedabad safe for Muslims recently. Was Mumbai safe on that fateful December 6th?
We cannot selectively decriminalize the police or the bureaucracy or politicians till we all believe that law should work for all no matter the circumstances. A system which allows a glaring temple to sprout out of the Charminar or an illegal masjid out of nowhere will be the same system which will make the cities unsafe for women and the same system will demand money when you want your building plan passed. So lets first look in the collective mirror and decide if we are ready to demand change.
What happened is happening all over India and it is not the ruling party's fault as much as the opposition.Projecting as Congress fault is opposition ploy to discredit.Rapes happen in BJP ruled states too and nothing much happens.When Muslim women were gang raped in broad day light on streets and thrown in fire there was not even a murmur!Why?
Today people are clamoring for castration and death penalty.In Islam death is awarded to rapists which was considered barbaric by other religious people.But this is being asked now by everybody!
P Chidamparam's election case is pending for the last four years and it was alleged that there were irregularities. People have no faith and confidence in the UPA regime and it wants to keep the police chief despite its failure to protect the civilians but also used excessive force against unarmed protestors including water canon and baton. Indians must start like the Arab spring the to bring down the government and demand for greater freedom, democracy, human rights, transparency, strong rule of law, fair and swift Justice and bring the perpetrators to account.
Finally a sensible step by the Govt of bringing a sensible person to
handle the situation in whom there is some trust left .
Home Ministry is too crucial to be handled by the darbaris like Shinde
and his team who can be used somewhere else ..God bless the citizens of the country ...
Why just Delhi and NCR, there are places in India where we do not have
enough media coverage to bring out such cases.
Mr. Chidambaram is not part of home ministry? what are his roles in this?i dont get it?
he thinks he can silent the failure of law and order,crazy politicians..
The men responsible for this crime must be made 'mummy' to do justice to the girl.
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