No need for new law to punish people committing road rage: Home Minister

NEW DELHI: There is no need for a separate law to punish persons indulging in road rage as existing measures are adequate to deal with such crimes, Home Minister P Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha today.

"We don't need a separate law to punish crime committed in road rage....laws are adequate (to deal with them)," he said during Question Hour.

To a query, he said the government was amending criminal law to redefine rape and honour killing.

At present, rape under Section 376 of IPC is non-bailable offence.

A high-powered committee under Home Secretary has formulated the draft 'Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2011' and "a draft Cabinet note has been circulated to the concerned ministries," he said.

"Unless there is speedy trial, we cannot bring guilty to book," he said.

Noting that judge-population ratio in India is the lowest in the world, he said average size of docket with a judge is greater than most countries. "We must have more judges, more courts," he said.

Chidambaram said as per information provided by the National Crime Records Bureau, the number of crime reported against women has increased from 1.95 lakh in 2008 to 2.13 lakh in 2010.

"A total number of 21,467 cases of rape were reported in 2008, 21,397 cases in 2009 and 22,172 cases in 2010 in the country," he said.

The Government, he said, attaches highest importance to the matter of prevention and control of crime against women and has urged state governments to give more focused attention towards improving the administration of criminal justice system.