Post date: Jan 02, 2013 3:11:54 PM
India's opposition BJP party reacts to reports that the parents of the bus gang rape woman would not object to a new law being posthumously named after her.
NEW DELHI, INDIA (JANUARY 02, 2013) (ANI) - Reacting to the reports that the parents of the bus gang rape victim do not have any problem naming anti-rape laws after their daughter, India's main opposition,Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday (January 02) said that the wishes of the parents should be respected.
India's Junior Education Minister Shashi Tharoor tweeted on Tuesday (January 01) that the name of the Delhi rape victim should be revealed so a new law can be named after her.According to media reports, the victim's parents said that "if her name is made public for this purpose, they have no objection to it".
Speaking to a reporter in New Delhi, senior BJP leader, Balbir Punj said that such a decision can only be taken by the parents of the girl.
"The wishes of the girl's parents, her father and mother, they should be respected in this matter," said Punj.
The ashes of the student who died after being gang-raped were scattered in the Ganges River on Tuesday as reports of more attacks stoked a growing national debate on violence against women.
The savagery of the crime - where the victim was raped for an hour and tortured with an iron rod which did serious damage to her internal organs - has stirred debate in Indiaand put gender issues on the political agenda.
The death of the 23-year-old woman, who has not been named, prompted street protests across India, international outrage and promises from the government of tougher punishments for offenders.
Despite gender sensitive laws being in place for decades, including those outlawing practices such as dowries and child marriage, they have been poorly implemented largely due to a lack of political will, activists say.
India's Information and Broadcasting Minister, Manish Tewari, however, said the priority should be to update laws on sexual violence and bring perpetrators to justice.
"This unfortunate incident should really become the trigger for both updating our laws, as well as ensure that the wheels of justice turn expeditiously. As we speak there is a committee under Justice Verma, which is engaged in the process of receiving feedback and updating the laws, there is an independent committee under Justice Usha Mehra, which is looking into the larger issue of safety and security of women in public places, especially in the National Capital, Delhi. So I think, rather than jumping the gun, we should await the reports of both these committee's on this very substantive issue, which requires urgent action," Tewari said.
Sexual violence against women in largely patriarchal India is widespread, say gender rights activists, and crimes such as rape, dowry murders, acid attacks, honour killings, child marriages and human trafficking are common.
Police on Tuesday confirmed they would push for the death penalty for her attackers - the force can recommend prosecutors pursue particular punishments in Indian trials.
The physiotherapy student was raped and tortured on December 16 by a group of men armed with a metal bar on a private bus in New Delhi, nicknamed India's 'rape capital'. She died from her injuries on Saturday (December 29) in a Singapore hospital.