MPs condemn Hyd rape, demand death penalty

Swift death penalty, public lynching and castration of rape convicts were among the demands made by members in both houses of Parliament on Monday as they expressed deep outrage over the rape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad and other such incidents in the country.

Union minister G Kishan Reddy on Monday informed Lok Sabha that the government is ready to amend the Indian Penal Code and CrPC to ensure swift justice in cases of heinous crimes like the Hyderabad rape and murder case.

Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu even suggested a rethink on allowing convicts in heinous crimes to go in for mercy appeals.     

The discussion in both the houses saw members stating that there was absence of a deterrent factor despite the fact that the law was made tough after the Nirbhaya incident. Members said punishments in such cases came late and there were immense delays caused in courts.    Pinaki Misra (Biju Janata Dal), a noted lawyer himself, said in the Lok Sabha that all the remedies for the convicts in the Nirbhaya case have been exhausted and still the death penalty has not been implemented in their case. “In such crimes, death penalty should be the only punishment,” he suggested, a view that was backed by other members including Saugata Roy of TMC, Supriya Sule of NCP and K Ram Mohan Naidu of TDP.   Another issue on which members expressed concern was the jurisdictional squabble the police indulge in when victims approach them after the incident.  Such policemen should be suspended, they said. They said this happened in the Hyderabad case when the parents of the victim ran from one station to another for filing the First Information Report (FIR).  Protests continue in Telangana.

A court has posted for Tuesday a petition filed by police seeking 10-day custody of the four people arrested for raping and murdering a woman veterinarian, even as protests continued in parts of Telangana demanding death penalty for the accused.

The Shadnagar court near Hyderabad also directed issuance of notices to the four accused after the Shadnagar Bar Association decided that it will not represent and offer any legal services to them. Telangana Director General of Police M Mahender Reddy, who reviewed the progress of the case on Sunday night, instructed police officials to ensure time-bound completion of the investigation.

A senior police official said they were in the process of requesting the Law Ministry for setting up of a fast track court to try the four accused.  

Hyderabad/Ballia (UP): Drawing flak for the alleged delay in responding to a complaint from the family of the missing woman veterinarian who was later found raped and murdered near here, the Telangana police on Monday instructed its officers to act on each case with due priority, including registering of a ‘Zero FIR’. Three policemen were suspended last week for the alleged delay in registering the FIR following allegations by the family that the police had cited jurisdictional reasons and not acted on their complaint in time.  Police officers have once again been instructed to register cases, irrespective of jurisdiction whenever a complaint related to cognisable offence is received at the police station. Meanwhile, the grandfather of Delhi gang rape-murder victim Nirbhaya on Monday said those guilty of such crimes should be “handed over” to the people to do “justice”. In an apparent reaction to the recent rape and murder of a Hyderabad woman on her way home from work, he suggested that such cases will come down if those arrested are shot dead in the street. He also called for changes in the judicial process so that rape cases are not left pending in the court for long.