Tag: rape

Juvenile Justice should be based on the foundation of reform and rehabilitation: Derek in RS

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Speaking on the Juvenile Justice Bill, 2014 in the Rajya Sabha, leader of the party in the Upper House, Derek O’Brien today said that juvenile justice should be based on the foundation of reform and rehabilitation.

Reform and Rehabilitation

“There are good bills, very good bills and ideal bills. The Juvenile Justice Bill a good bill. Let us pass it rather than wait indefinitely for an ideal Bill.”

Derek also cautioned against pitting women’s rights against child rights. “If one follows the Bill’s debate, irrespective of the outcome, it’s disappointing to see child rights being pegged against women’s rights,” he said.

He mentioned that repeat offenders among juvenile accounts for only five per cent while the figure is 17 per cent in the US. He stressed that the focus of the government should be on implementation of the Bill. “The bigger job is to ensure juvenile homes function properly. We also need to work very hard to work on education system,” added.

Three amendments

Maintaining that if any juvenile turns out to be a criminal it is a collective failure of the society, Derek suggested three amendments to the Bill:

1.  Broadening maximum sentence from 3 years to 7-10 years, to be on the safer side and to provide more cushion for reform of the juvenile.

2. After release, juvenile should be offered not just financial support but educational support & counselling services, too.

3. There is a different penalty for selling a child (5 years) and giving drugs to a child (7 years). This must be looked into.

 

He also congratulated all sides of the political spectrum for coming together to legislate on this sensitive subject.

 

Click here for the full transcript of his speech

Vivek Gupta’s Zero Hour Mention about delay of justice for rape victims

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Sir, recently the country observed the third anniversary of the Nirbhaya rape case. But still, we are sorry to say, that lack of forensic infrastructure is causing inordinate delay in getting justice to all women who have been raped or physically abused.

Sir, newspaper reports suggest that it is so glaring that the Government is not even able to come up with proofs in the fast-track courts. As an illustration, the national capital itself, between 11 police districts in the city, there are only two forensic laboratories, out of which one is not functioning properly.

Even the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has expressed extreme displeasure for this sorry state of affairs. Sir, the need of the hour is to submit time-bound reports for cases as well as expanding the existing capacity of forensic laboratories in the country.

The matter needs the urgent attention of the Government because of the lives of so many victims, specially women associated with domestic violence.

The Government needs to show all the seriousness to take necessary action in this regard.

Thank you, Sir.

Derek O’Brien speaks on the alleged gang rape of a nun in Ranaghat | Transcript

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Full transcript:

Sir,

After Nirbhaya, all of us in this House and in this Nation thought it cannot get any worse. We cannot be any more brutal than as those men were two years ago.

Unfortunately, day before yesterday, in Ranaghat in Bengal, we saw another shameless act of brutality. This is not an issue where anyone wants to do any politics with, that is why I thought it would be proper to give a Notice and bring this issue up here in the Rajya Sabha.

Sir, it is a very sad incident and frankly all that the State Government can do is to show some swift action and  get some action done. Within a few hours of this incident, a CID probe had been ordered and 7 people have been detained. I will not indulge in politics and compare one incident to the other; this is not the occasion to do it. I think the issue is bigger. For all you know, it may have been a dacoity in the straight sense. So, I do not want to come to any conclusion. But the issue is bigger Sir.

The issue is one of women’s rights. The issue is one of the safety of the people who run these minority institutions. The issue is one of respecting our mothers, our sisters and making India a safer place to live in.

Sir, at some point we have to understand that both the rapist and their victims are us, because sometime the way we act in these cases is itself shameless.

Bengal to get 10 more women police stations

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10 more women police stations are coming up in West Bengal besides the existing 20.

The West Bengal Chief Minister had targeted to set up 65 such police stations across the State.  The government has approved the establishment of 330 posts under various categories for the new police stations. A woman police officer will head each of these police stations and majority of the other ranks will constitute of women also.

In the first phase 20 women police stations were set up at Howrah, Barasat, Baruipur, Asansol, Jhargram, Contai, Chinsurah, Krishnanagar, Siliguri and Jalpaiguri Sadar, sub-divisional headquarters of Burdwan Sadar, Medinipur Sadar, Purulia Sadar, Bankura Sadar, Darjeeling Sadar, Sreerampore (Hooghly), Suri (Birbhum), English Bazar (Malda), Diamond Harbour (South 24-Parganas) and Barrackpore (North 24-Parganas) have got such stations. Now, 10 new stations have opened at Bidhannagar and Durgapur Commissionerate, Cooch Behar, Balurghat, Raiganj, Berhampore, Kharagpur, Haldia, Uluberia and Arambag.  With these new stations the total number of all women police stations has reached to 30.

WB CM Ms Mamata Banerjee has been working relentlessly for the safety of women across the State. It was her idea to have all women police stations in the state to combat women related crimes. In a police station where women will not only feel free and safe to report criminal cases against them, but where such cases will also be dealt with immense sensitivity and compassion.

In another innovative step, the West Bengal Government is launching a special police cell to deal with highway accidents. This cell will be known as ‘Highway Traffic Police’. Along with investigating accident cases on highways, they will also take prompt action so that accident victims get immediate medical attention and effective rescue missions.