Gangrape: PM dispels fears,says rights abuse will not go unchecked

This came as a Delhi-based correspondent of a German weekly asked the German Chancellor why she criticised human rights violations in China,Syria and all other countries but did not do anything about “human rights problems” in India where,he said,two million women were “missing”.

Merkel responded that she had discussed “about the role of women” with the Prime Minister and is “aware of the challenges” India is facing and she is also aware of what the government of India is doing. Adding to her answer,the Prime Minister said,“India is a well-functioning democracy with full respect for fundamental human freedoms and human rights of its population. In our system of government,there is a very important place for civil society actors to influence government policy,to criticise government policy,and to agitate in a peaceful manner for a resolution of any problem that they may choose to emphasize.”

“But I will be the last person to deny that at times there are pressing developments which are not what we would like them to be. The recent gangrape of a young woman in Delhi was one such incident,which mobilised a tremendous amount of India’s civil society resources,to draw attention to this ghastly crime. The Government of India reacted with speed. We set up a committee under a former Chief Justice of India to come up with remedial legislative measures,if the committee felt that there were lacunae in the existing legal framework. The committee came up with the report within one month,” said Singh adding how the government succeeded in “persuading” Parliament to enact the necessary legislation.

“Poverty is India’s greatest problem. Social evils associated with poverty cannot be dealt with effectively in a short period of time. And we are making very conscious efforts to raise the level of debate by a policy of sustained growth at the rate of 7 to 8% for the last decade; at the same time to ensure that the fruits of this development are distributed equitably among the poorer sections of our population — particularly our women deserve a better deal,” he said.