New Delhi:
As the government searches for ways to make women safer, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today said, "It is unacceptable that women in our societies live in fear. The responsibility lies with the government." He also said that while tougher laws are needed as a deterrent against crimes against women, the main problem is that existing laws are not implemented.
Mr Shinde was speaking at a meeting of the Chief Secretaries and top cops of states to discuss a strategy to stop crimes against women.
The gang-rape of a medical student on a bus in Delhi and her subsequent death after a two-week fight for her life in hospitals in Delhi and Singapore has over-whelmed the nation with anger and hurt. Thousands have vowed that her death shall not be in vain. The government has pledged to improve policing, and has created committees to review criminal laws and suggest measures to improve security for women in the capital.
At today's meeting, Minister for Women and Child Welfare Krishna Tirath said that rapes must be punishable by death in rarest of rare cases, and that chemical castration, suggested by some other leaders, is not practical because it requires constant monitoring.
The government has appointed a committee of legal experts headed by retired Supreme Court judge JS Verma to review criminal laws and consider enhanced punishment for rape and other crimes of sexual assault. The committee's report will be ready in a month, after which the government wants to present it in parliament for debate and review.