Parliament, politicians condemn Delhi gangrape
19 Dec 2012 6:45 AM IST
Cutting across party lines, Rajya Sabha members on Tuesday condemned the gangrape of a young woman on a moving bus in Delhi, with several demanding capital punishment for rapists.
Anger and emotions filled the house as anguished members of parliament told the government to ensure that no such incident takes place again.
The 23-year-old woman, who was gangraped by at least seven men and thrown off the bus along with a male friend Sunday night, is critical and on ventilator support at a hospital here. Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachchan broke down in the house saying she wondered what would happen to the girl’s family, while Trinamool Congerss’s Derek O’Brien said as the father of a teenaged girl he was scared.
Bachchan, the BJP’s Najma Heptullah, Shiv Sena’s Manohar Joshi and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Ram Kripal Yadav were among the members who said death sentence should be the punishment for the rapists.
Raising the issue in the upper house of parliament, BJP member Maya Singh proposed that there should be no legal recourse for such criminals. ‘There should be toughest punishment for them and no one should argue their case,’ she said. Her party colleague Najma Heptullah demanded capital punishment for rapists ‘so that people are afraid’.
Backing her, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut said: ‘There should be fast track courts. They should get life sentence.’
Bachchan also said rape should be treated at par with attempt to murder. ‘I am very worried about the parents of this girl. What is going to happen to them? All will forget but she will remember for the rest of her life. It’ll be a scar,’ she said, her voice laden with emotions.
Anger and emotions filled the house as anguished members of parliament told the government to ensure that no such incident takes place again.
The 23-year-old woman, who was gangraped by at least seven men and thrown off the bus along with a male friend Sunday night, is critical and on ventilator support at a hospital here. Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachchan broke down in the house saying she wondered what would happen to the girl’s family, while Trinamool Congerss’s Derek O’Brien said as the father of a teenaged girl he was scared.
Bachchan, the BJP’s Najma Heptullah, Shiv Sena’s Manohar Joshi and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Ram Kripal Yadav were among the members who said death sentence should be the punishment for the rapists.
Raising the issue in the upper house of parliament, BJP member Maya Singh proposed that there should be no legal recourse for such criminals. ‘There should be toughest punishment for them and no one should argue their case,’ she said. Her party colleague Najma Heptullah demanded capital punishment for rapists ‘so that people are afraid’.
Backing her, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut said: ‘There should be fast track courts. They should get life sentence.’
Bachchan also said rape should be treated at par with attempt to murder. ‘I am very worried about the parents of this girl. What is going to happen to them? All will forget but she will remember for the rest of her life. It’ll be a scar,’ she said, her voice laden with emotions.
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