Death penalty and chemical castration for rapists are amongst a string of stringent measures propounded by Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Tuesday even as the nation mourned the death of the Delhi rape victim and her ashes were immersed in the Ganga by her family.
In a timely initiative that is bound to apply the brakes on potential rapists, Ms Jayalalithaa announced a 13-point charter of action to ensure protection for women. She said her government would urge the Centre to amend laws to provide the death penalty and chemical castration for rape.
Expressing grief over the death of the Delhi gangrape victim, she announced the charter for guaranteeing women’s safety and preventing incidents of sexual harassment, which she said would be treated as a grave crime to be handled by senior police officers. Rules would be amended to enable the police to keep the accused in their custody for 30 days (at present 15 days), to prevent anticipatory bail for the accused and deny bail until the court decides the case. Also, the Goondas Act would be amended to bring rapists into its ambit.
In an effort to speed up effective investigation of such cases in a sensitive manner, she said, women inspectors or sub-inspectors would handle them under the direct supervision of district SPs and range DIGs. These officers would conduct monthly reviews of cases. “Zonal IGs will send reports within 15 days to ADGP (L&O) after reviewing all the cases pending investigation and being tried in courts,” Ms Jayalalithaa said, adding that CCTVs would be installed in all public buildings to identify those troubling women. Plainclothes police personnel would be deployed at markets and women’s colleges and a helpline for women would be set up.
She said police personnel would be sensitised during their stints at the TN police academy, police recruitment schools and at in-service training centres to treat the victims of abuse with kindness and dignity.