L A T E S T      N E W S

Will demand tough laws on crime against women
in Budget session: Sushma

NEW DELHI : A day after the Delhi gang-rape victim was cremated, the BJP on Monday demanded that there should be no provision for convicts, sentenced to death in rape-cum-murder cases, to file a mercy petition.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj raised the demand while attacking the UPA government for the "secrecy" in the cremation of the December 16 gang-rape victim, who was raped in a moving bus.

"The culprits be hanged and the government should not accept any mercy petitions in such cases. If this can be done then this will be the only respect to that victim," she said while referring to five cases of rape-cum-murders in which the UPA government, she said, had granted pardon to convicts.

Swaraj, who was addressing a condolence meeting organised by the Delhi BJP here to pay tribute to the 23-year-old victim, also demanded that such cases should be moved only to fast track courts and within six months they should be decided.

"The trial of rape cases should be completed within six months and capital punishment be given in cases of rape and murder," she demanded.

She said BJP will utilise the Budget Session of Parliament for making stringent laws against offenders of such crimes.

Swaraj said she had spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded that a special session of Parliament be called to examine the existing laws regarding rape as there is no scope of giving death penalty in such cases.

"We feel that if a murder takes place after kidnap and rape, then death penalty should be the only punishment. But my demand of special session was rejected by Home Minister. Then we demanded an all-party meeting to discuss the security of women but that was also rejected," she said.

Swaraj said as they have not called the special session of Parliament, "we will utilise the budget session of Parliament."

"It is an urgent need that there is an examination of all the laws regarding women this year (2013). There should be severe punishment for violence against women," the BJP leader said.

Accusing the government of being interested in performing "drama" over the rape case, Swaraj disapproved the "covert way" in which the government conducted the girl’s cremation.

"We condemn the way government maintained a secrecy regarding the cremation of the girl. If people had known about the venue of cremation what harm would it have done? They kept misguiding us," Swaraj said.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitely said the gang-rape of the girl could not be described as just "cruel, brutal, barbaric or beastly" and that it appeared that "we have failed the test of civility".

"Crimes are sometimes categorised as cruel, then brutal, then barbaric and then beastly. But in this case all these four words will fall short of describing the crime that has taken place...The parameters of a good civilisation are measured by the condition of women and the behaviour that is being meted out to them in that civilization. It seems we have failed the test of civility," he said.

He demanded that laws should be changed and made harsher so that culprits are afraid before committing a crime.

"We have to self access ourselves when we express our condolences over the death of that child. Time has come when lawmakers should come together to make a strong law against such crimes," Jaitley said.

The 23-year old paramedic student, who was gang-raped and brutalised by six criminals on December 16 died on Saturday after battling for life in a hospital in Singapore. — PTI

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government today announced financial aid of Rs 15 lakh for the next of the kin of the 23-year-old gang-rape victim and offered a job to a family member of the girl, who died two days ago.

The decisions were taken at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

The phsyiotherapy student was brutally gang-raped and assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16. She breathed her last in a Singapore hospital on Saturday morning and her mortal remains were cremated here yesterday. — PTI

Army's no to New Year parties by units

NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of the death of the Delhi gang-rape victim, the Army has issued advisories to all its formations across the country against holding New Year parties.

Advisory has been issued to all formations that they should not organise New Year parties, Army officials said here.

Army chief Gen Bikaram Singh and his wife Bubbles Singh will visit patients in Army Research and Referral Hospital here and Base Hospital on the first day of the New Year and distribute sweets.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi too has announced that the party will not be celebrating the New Year following the incident.

Amid outpouring of anger and grief in the country, the body of the 23-year-old victim was flown here from Singapore early yesterday morning and cremated within hours. — PTI

Indian-Americans urge FBI to track religious hate crimes

WASHINGTON: Expressing shock and sorrow at the death of an Indian man Sunando Sen last week, Indian-Americans have asked the Department of Justice and FBI to separately track hate crimes against various religious communities in the country.

"Such a violent and hateful attack on any individual, especially because of religious hatred is completely unconscionable in any society" said Suhag Shukla, executive director and legal counsel for the Washington-headquartered Hindu American Foundation (HAF).

"We need the Department of Justice (DOJ) to have a separate Hindu category to track anti Hindu hate crimes and urge Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to implement to raise the profile," Hindu American Seva Communities (HASC) said in a statement.

Police have arrested 31-year-old Erika Menendez in connection with the case in New York, and charged her with second-degree murder as a hate crime.

The defendant reportedly targeted 46-year old Sen out of hatred for Hindus and Muslims.

Menendez pushed an unsuspecting Sen on to the subway tracks in front of an oncoming train at a Queens station as he was waiting on the platform on the night of December 27.

Although not frequently reported, this incident is not an isolated event, Shukla said.

"Though there is a high level of acceptance of our community in America, sometimes we see gaps through intolerance and violence. Unfortunately, innocent people are impacted when individuals turn against any group of people," HASC said.

Urging Department of Justice and FBI to track Hindu hate crimes separately, HASC expresses grief over the tragic death of Sunando Sen and concern over xenophobia against Hindus, as well as Muslims and Sikhs.

"Many of these heinous acts are under-reported, and if reported are not tracked as hate crimes," it added.

"We hope these heinous acts against our community will not go unnoticed and the death of Dr Sen will not be in vain. Just as the community improves its own security infrastructures we urge DOJ and FBI to track these hate crimes separately for appropriate data collection and action," HASC said. — PTI

Fog disrupts flight operations at IGI airport

NEW DELHI: Dense fog enveloped the Indira Gandhi International Airport here this morning, disrupting the schedule of around 40 flights.

Overnight around 16 flights were delayed. Around five flights were cancelled either due to operational reasons or due to poor weather, an airport official said.

Fog started to descend on the airport from last night but it started to become dense around 7 AM, forcing authorities to implement low visibility procedures.

Dense fog returned to the capital yesterday after a four-day lull, affecting over 130 flights. — PTI