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India-Pakistan
Activists wary as India rushes to justice after gang rape
2013-01-07
[REUTERS] It's no surprise the Indian street wants faster, harsher justice for sexual crimes after a horrific gang rape that rocked the nation, but some activists worry the government will trample fundamental rights in its rush to be in tune with popular rage.
"Which activists?"
"Some."

Last month's rape of a physiotherapy student on a moving bus and her death on December 28 in hospital triggered a national debate
... an expenditure of personal wind at the national level that leads to face-making and other histrionics but can't be shown to have ever solved an issue ...
about how to better protect women in India, where official data shows one rape is reported on average every 20 minutes.

Many women's rights groups are cautiously hopeful the protests and outrage that followed the crime can be channeled into real change - fast-track courts for sexual offences and a plan to hire 2,500 new women police in Delhi are measures already in the works.

But legal experts and some feminists are worried that calls to make rape punishable with death and other draconian penalties will cramp civil liberties and are unconstitutional. They say India needs better policing and prosecutions, not new laws.

"If there are not enough convictions, it is not because of an insufficiency of law, but it is the insufficiency of material to base the conviction on," said retired Delhi High Court judge R.S. Sodhi.

Five men have been charged with the student's rape and murder and will appear before a New Delhi court later on Monday. They are due to be tried in a newly formed fast-track court in the next few weeks. A teenager also accused will likely be tried in a juvenile court.

Ahead of Monday's court appearance the five still had no defense lawyers - despite extensive interrogations by the police, who have said they have recorded confessions - after members of the bar association in the South Delhi district where the case is being heard vowed not to represent them.
Posted by:Fred

#8  They were Hindus and Sikhs.

As far as I can tell India's Muslims as a whole tend to be rather well behaved. Which makes sense when you consider that it has the third larged population of Muslims in the world - and very few of them want to live in Pakistan.
Posted by: Secret Master   2013-01-07 23:04  

#7  They were Hindus and Sikhs.

The defendants have been named as Ram Singh, Mukesh Singh, Vijay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta.
Posted by: phil_b   2013-01-07 18:54  

#6  Ah. "Draconian". I knew it would be in there someplace...
Posted by: tu3031   2013-01-07 17:31  

#5  I asked that before rjschwarz, didn't get any response but judging by the MSM avoiding mentioning it at all costs - I suspect we're in a game of 'Guess that Religion-of-Peace'....
Posted by: CrazyFool   2013-01-07 16:33  

#4  Dunno, rjschwarz, but I know which way I'd bet. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara   2013-01-07 15:28  

#3  Indelicate question but, does anyone know the religions of the involved?
Posted by: rjschwarz   2013-01-07 15:07  

#2  Pants around their ankles and iron bars supplied after a few hours.

That way they get to experience the humiliation and violence of their victim.
Posted by: phil_b   2013-01-07 04:32  

#1  Sounds like lawyers spruiking for more money for lawyers.

Personally, I'd put them in stocks in central Delhi, with only women allowed access.

If they are still around after that, then by all means try them.
Posted by: phil_b   2013-01-07 04:22  

00:00