Gowda bats for speedy judgement in rape cases

Effect constitutional amendments if necessary

Ex-prime minister H D Deve Gowda said it is necessary to make suitable amendments to law to award immediate death sentence to those who involve in heinous acts like gang-rape.

Addressing mediapersons in Hassan on Sunday, he said laws have been strengthened to punish the accused.

The procedures should not be prolonged and a system should be brought to force to award maximum punishment like death to rape accused within a shortest possible time. Legal experts and leaders of all states should consider the issue and if necessary effect constitutional amendments, he said.

Earlier, inaugurating the district unit of civil engineers and Vastu experts association, he said nobody will forget the efforts of Sir M Visvesvaraya who struggled to build Krishnarajasagar reservoir in the state. 

Similarly, people should not forget the efforts taken by him (Gowda) for the construction of Hemavathy, Yagachi reservoirs as he had also faced a lot of problems at the time, he reminded.

“Some have been questioning what has Deve Gowda done in the past four years. They should recall the four-year period and will understand what I have done”, he said. The four chief ministers who came to power are responsible for the current crisis in the state, he stated.

He said he visited all four reservoirs along with a representative of a national media, who made a report on the current status of water in the state. He will not disclose anything as the whole country will know its impact within three days, he added.

He said he welcomes the proposal to apply Article 371 on Hyderabad-Karnataka region. But he suspected a motive behind the same as the Congress government is prepared to do anything to woo vote banks.

“The BJP and Congress are trying to finish off the JD(S) in the state, but I am trying to strengthen the third front,” he said.