Parliament expresses concern over rape and murder in Hyderabad

NEW DELHI: Parliament on Monday expressed concern over rape in different parts of the country, with a member suggesting that rape accused should be subjected to mob justice, while another recommending castration. The remarks came during discussions in both Houses on the rape and murder of a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad last week.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan lamented that she had to raise the issue of assault on women so many times in the House. People now want the government to give a proper and very definite answer. In some countries, the public punishes those guilty of such crimes, she said. “I know it is a little harsh, but I think these kind of people need to be brought out in public and lynched,” she said.

DMK’s P Wilson suggested that rapists should be chemically or surgically castrated. RS Chairman Venkaiah Naidu condemned the Hyderabad incident and rued that rapes happened across the country. “The issue of incidents of sexual assaults on women in different parts of the country is really disturbing to all. What happened in Hyderabad is a disgrace to all principles of humanity and is highly condemnable,” Naidu said.


Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said several laws have been framed from time to time and ‘awakening at all levels’ was needed now. “The culprits should not be spared and should be given the most stringent punishment. State governments should take strong action in such matters,” he said.

Shiromani Akali Dal’s Naresh Gujral said laws were there but there was no fear of law as courts take ‘so much time’ and ‘delay everything’. Members in the Lok Sabha condemned the Hyderabad incident and said atrocities against women in many states were growing and was a matter of grave concern. Joining them in condemning the incident, defence minister Rajnath Singh stressed on the need for enacting sterner laws to check such incidents. “This act has brought shame to the entire country.

It has hurt everyone. The accused must be given the most stringent punishment. To control and eliminate such crimes against women, we are ready to make the kind of law which the entire House agrees to,” Singh said.

Following the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi in 2011, the punishment for rape was made harsher, including capital punishment in some cases. Juvenile accused over 16 can be treated as an adult and tried too.

Annual statistics on crime, however, have not shown decrease in incidents of rape since introduction of more stringent punitive measures.

On the other hand, several cases, including the Hyderabad rape and murder have highlighted on the need for better policing. Raising the matter in the Lok Sabha, Congress MP Uttam Kumar Reddy questioned how the Telangana Police could have delayed filing a case and slammed the state’s home minister for his purported ‘insensitive remarks’.

Condemning the incident, DMK’s TR Baalu raised the issue of sexual assault of a school girl in Coimbatore. Trinamool’s Saugata Roy called for death sentence for all rape convicts. BJD’s Pinaki Misra drew the House’s attention to the delay in carrying out the death sentences in the Nirbhaya case.