Kiran Bedi's 'small rape' remark: Women's commission seeks apology

August 13, 2012

kiranbedi

Mumbai, August 13: Women activists want an apology from anti-corruption activist and former top cop Kiran Bedi for talking about "small rape" cases on a public stage. They have accused her of extreme insensitivity and say she shows a "feudal mentality." Ms Bedi denies she said that rape is a small crime.

Ms Bedi had lashed out at the media for what she called inadequate reportage of Team Anna's alleged expose on corruption in the UPA government. She said, "Ask yourself. On a small rape case or assault which a low ranking police official commits, how you would discuss it. But against 15 ministers, Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal had given the evidence but nobody from among you media hold any debate or discussion over the issue.

"Tell me, why you haven't done that? Do you fear them?"

Ms Bedi used yoga guru Baba Ramdev's protest venue at Ramlila Maidan to raise her team's agenda on Sunday. The National Commission for Women has isolated the remark on rapes and said it was "distressing". NCW member

Nirmala Samant Prabhavalkar said the Commission will issue a notice to Ms Bedi today after taking suo motu cognisance of the remark.

"Ms Bedi is a woman and a former police officer. Sheshould have shown extreme sensitivity while talking about a serious crime like rape. There is nothing like a 'small rape'. A rape is a rape and should be viewed as a crime against humanity," Ms Prabhavalkar said in a statement in Mumbai.

"It is distressing that Ms Bedi showed utter lack of sensitivity on a serious issue. It shows her feudal mentality. I demand an immediate apology from her," Ms Prabhavalkar said, adding "the NCW has decided to take a suo motu cognisance of Ms Bedi's statement. It will issue a notice to her on Monday."

After her remarks created a furore, Bedi tweeted that "deliberate wrong news" was being circulated to distract people from knowing what she said.

"I never said rape is small crime. I said when small ranked person commits rape crime he is hung while big ones go scotfree. It was about comparative punishment. Small officer (not small rape) involved in rape is hung while big ones go scotfree!" she said.


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New Delhi, Mar 29: The battle against coronavirus is a tough one and it required harsh decisions to keep India safe, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first Mann Ki Baat after the 21-day lockdown was imposed in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.
"The battle against COVID-19 is a tough one and it did require such harsh decisions. It is important to keep the people of India safe. A disease must be dealt with at the very beginning as delay makes it incurable," said Prime Minister Modi.
He said that as the coronavirus has put the entire world in lockdown, so "India is doing the same."
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Addressing the 63rd edition of his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat', the Prime Minister had sought forgiveness from all countrymen, and especially the poor, for the nationwide lockdown in the country in the view of the novel coronavirus.
During his address to the nation on March 24, the Prime Minister had announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the deadly virus. 

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News Network
June 30,2020

Mumbai, Jun 30: Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday demanded a ban on NaMo app alleging that it was violating privacy of Indians.

The former Maharashtra chief minister also alleged that the NaMo app, the official mobile phone application of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, surreptitiously changes the privacy settings and sends data to third party companies in the US.

"Its good that Modi government is protecting privacy of 130 crore Indians by banning 59 Chinese apps. The NaMo app also violates privacy of Indians by accessing 22 data points, surreptitiously changing the privacy settings and sending data to third party companies in the US," Chavan tweeted.

India on Monday banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including hugely popular TikTok and UC Browser, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.

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News Network
May 5,2020

Kochi, May 5: India has sent three naval ships to evacuate its citizens stranded in the Maldives and UAE due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a defence spokesperson said in the early hours on Tuesday.

INS Jalashwa deployed off Mumbai coast, along with INS Magar, diverted for Maldives on Monday night, he said.

While INS Shardul diverted to Dubai to evacuate the expatriates, the spokesperson added.

The three ships will return to Kochi, he said.

INS Magar and INS Shardul are Southern Naval Command ships, while INS Jalashwa is from Eastern Naval Command.

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