JOIN USUnion Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday agreed that the death of Ram Singh, the prime accused in the Delhi gang-rape case, in Tihar Jail was a “major lapse”, but said action against prison authorities could be taken only after obtaining the inquiry report.
A preliminary report submitted to the Union Home Ministry revealed that he committed suicide by hanging. An inquiry by a magistrate is going on and full facts will emerge later, Shinde said.
When asked whether he would take action against the DG Tihar Jail, Shinde said: “It is a major lapse. Let us wait for the full report.”
Shinde virtually took a dig at Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who passed the buck on to the Union Home Ministry when confronted with a query over holding prison authorities accountable. He said she had raised Centre-state issues earlier but “I will not annoy her. Let her give it in writing and we will do.”
Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet will take up a draft of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill on Tuesday, after differences between the Union Home and Law ministries was settled on issues including retaining the word “rape”.
“There is a difference of opinion on legal issues which is being addressed and it will be taken up tomorrow at the Cabinet meeting,” Shinde said. Though the anti-rape ordinance uses gender neutral term of “sexual assault”, the Home Ministry has replaced it with rape in the draft legislation which is also in conformity with Justice Verma Committee recommendations.
The Women and Child Development Ministry agreed with the Home Ministry on the issue. The Law Ministry, however, wanted the proposed bill to retain sexual assault as it would address possible crimes against men.
Similarly, the draft bill had reduced the age for consensual sex to 16 years from 18, but the Law Ministry wanted it to be further reduced to 15 years.
The new Bill will replace the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012, introduced in the Lok Sabha in December, as it has incorporated some of the suggestions of the standing committee on Home Affairs which had re-written it.
The Bill seeks to award life sentence, till death, to the accused. This can be converted into capital punishment if the victim dies or is pushed into a vegetative state.