Rape convict interview: Rajnath summons Tihar Director-General

An investigation has been ordered on how the permission was granted to interview Mukesh Singh in July 2013 and also to fix the responsibility.

In this file photo, a policeman rides a bicycle inside the Tihar Jail. A British filmmaker’s interview of one of the December 16 gangrape convicts inside the jail for a documentary has kicked up a storm.

As the interview of the December 16 gangrape convict created a storm, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday summoned Director-General of Tihar Jail, where the documentary was shot.

Alok Kumar Verma is understood to have briefed the Home Minister details about how the permission was granted to interview the convict, Mukesh Singh, and how it had taken place.

Official sources said during their 10-minute meeting, Mr. Verma also conveyed to the Home Minister about various aspects of the jail manuals and the procedures of meeting an inmate by an outsider.

Earlier, the Home Minister made identical statements in both Houses of Parliament about circumstances leading to taking of the interview by a British filmmaker and the action taken by the government to stop its telecast.

The Home Minister said an investigation has been ordered on how the permission was granted to interview Mukesh Singh in July 2013 and also to fix the responsibility.

In the interview, Mukesh Singh, who was awarded death sentence for the brutal rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl, said women who went out at night had only themselves to blame if they attracted the attention of gangs of male molesters.

“A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy,” he had said.