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| Anguish over rape | | Politicians hold back police reforms AFTER initial disruptions, | |
Rajya Sabha members
were able to express their anguish over the Delhi child rape on Monday. To prevent the recurrence of such crimes there was a demand to amend the anti-rape law to ensure capital punishment for child rapists. Some wanted an all-party meeting to debate the issue. The public anger, triggered by the atrocity, was also directed at police insensitivity as it became known that there was an attempt to silence the victim's family with a cash offer. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde himself displayed monumental insensitivity with his remark that "such incidents have been reported from other parts of the country also".
Politicians usually produce more noises than light. Since Delhi elections are around, some are just playing politics. While there are long-term issues of addressing sexual repression, promoting gender sensitivity through education, improving living standards, purging society of biases against women and improving the over-all safety environment through better governance, there is one immediate issue that needs urgent attention, and that is, police reforms. Capital punishment on paper will not serve any purpose if policing remains substandard. According to the data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau and published in a newspaper, more than one lakh rapists went unpunished across the country between 2001 and 2010 because of poor evidence.
This reveals how shoddy investigation usually is in rape cases. Politicians make the loudest noises over such tragedies but when it comes to police reforms, they no longer want to lose control over the force. In 2006 the Supreme Court suggested reforms, including the separation of law and order and investigation work, fixed tenures for senior officers and a district-level authority to redress public grievances against policemen, but most states have disregarded the apex court's directive. Mere words of sympathy for rape victims will not do. If politicians are serious, they should set up more courts and appoint more judges to fast-track cases, and implement police reforms to ensure the certainty of punishment and that justice is not delayed. People should vote out the politicians who interfere in the system of justice. |
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