Govt ignored us, Justice Verma says
Jan 28, 2013, 12.40AM IST TNN
Justice Verna said it was former home minister P Chidambaram who called him up, at the Prime Minister's behest, on December 23 to request him to undertake chairmanship of the panel.
NEW DELHI: Blowing the lid off the government's 'cold' attitude towards the three-member committee it had set up to review rape laws, its chairman Justice J S Verma on Sunday said the panel was offered little else than a couple of rooms in Vigyan Bhavan and a government car to ferry the committee members, with all secretarial assistance and infrastructure being arranged by member Gopal Subramaniam.
Lamenting the lack of any office infrastructure for enabling working of the panel out of Vigyan Bhavan, Justice Verma told Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate that the governmental assistance was limited to an official car ferrying Leila Seth and himself from Noida to Vigyan Bhavan or Gopal Subramaniam's office, from where the panel had to operate most of the time. The only secretarial staff made available was a deputy secretary, whose job was to arrange what was needed by the panel. The infrastructure and secretarial staff, including the 15-20 youngsters who assisted the panel, were arranged entirely by Gopal, said Justice Verma.
The former Chief Justice also revealed that Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was not involved in liaising with him for setting up of the panel and had not even met him once through the panel's month-long deliberations.
He said it was former home minister P Chidambaram who called him up, at the Prime Minister's behest, on December 23 to request him to undertake chairmanship of the panel. Chidambaram was not in Delhi at the time and had called him from his constituency, Sivaganga in Tamilnadu.
Justice J S Verma also revealed that a "gracious" Sonia Gandhi had apologized to him after a Congress representative landed at his door past midnight to submit the party's recommendations on changes to rape laws. He said that Congress president somehow came to know that he was woken up in past midnight by a party representative, and called him the very next day to apologise for the odd timing.
Justice Verma headed the three-member committee constituted by the government in the wake of the December 16 gang-rape incident to suggest amendments to rape laws. On January 23, the committee submitted its recommendations seeking
minimum 20 years imprisonment for gang-rape but refrained from prescribing death penalty for rape. New offences are sought to be created and stiffer punishment has been suggested for those committing rape and leaving the victim in a vegetative state.
Asked why death penalty was not recommended by the panel for rape, Justice Verma told Devil's Advocate that the unanimous view among women groups was against capital punishment for rapists. "It was a unanimous suggestion of even women leaders who have been fighting for the cause for decades. Even the current trend is against
death penalty," he said.
He said when a brutal rape ends up in death, Section 302 (murder) will automatically apply against the accused and so the room for capital punishment will remain.
Asked about his recommendations on "breach of command", Justice Verma said it was necessary as rape crimes could be avoided if the higher officers execute their responsibility properly.
On whether the committee tried to get political profile by giving certain political recommendations, he said, "Electoral laws are important because ultimately that affects the true representations. And unless there is true representation, the constitutional guarantees cannot be fulfilled".
Lamenting the lack of any office infrastructure for enabling working of the panel out of Vigyan Bhavan, Justice Verma told Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate that the governmental assistance was limited to an official car ferrying Leila Seth and himself from Noida to Vigyan Bhavan or Gopal Subramaniam's office, from where the panel had to operate most of the time. The only secretarial staff made available was a deputy secretary, whose job was to arrange what was needed by the panel. The infrastructure and secretarial staff, including the 15-20 youngsters who assisted the panel, were arranged entirely by Gopal, said Justice Verma.
The former Chief Justice also revealed that Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was not involved in liaising with him for setting up of the panel and had not even met him once through the panel's month-long deliberations.
He said it was former home minister P Chidambaram who called him up, at the Prime Minister's behest, on December 23 to request him to undertake chairmanship of the panel. Chidambaram was not in Delhi at the time and had called him from his constituency, Sivaganga in Tamilnadu.
Justice J S Verma also revealed that a "gracious" Sonia Gandhi had apologized to him after a Congress representative landed at his door past midnight to submit the party's recommendations on changes to rape laws. He said that Congress president somehow came to know that he was woken up in past midnight by a party representative, and called him the very next day to apologise for the odd timing.
Justice Verma headed the three-member committee constituted by the government in the wake of the December 16 gang-rape incident to suggest amendments to rape laws. On January 23, the committee submitted its recommendations seeking
minimum 20 years imprisonment for gang-rape but refrained from prescribing death penalty for rape. New offences are sought to be created and stiffer punishment has been suggested for those committing rape and leaving the victim in a vegetative state.
Asked why death penalty was not recommended by the panel for rape, Justice Verma told Devil's Advocate that the unanimous view among women groups was against capital punishment for rapists. "It was a unanimous suggestion of even women leaders who have been fighting for the cause for decades. Even the current trend is against
death penalty," he said.
He said when a brutal rape ends up in death, Section 302 (murder) will automatically apply against the accused and so the room for capital punishment will remain.
Asked about his recommendations on "breach of command", Justice Verma said it was necessary as rape crimes could be avoided if the higher officers execute their responsibility properly.
On whether the committee tried to get political profile by giving certain political recommendations, he said, "Electoral laws are important because ultimately that affects the true representations. And unless there is true representation, the constitutional guarantees cannot be fulfilled".
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