New Delhi, December 22: Even as angry Delhiites continued to take to the streets over the gruesome gang rape of a 23-year-old girl and the high court slammed the cops for lapses that had led to Sunday night's incident, Union home secretary RK Singh lauded the Delhi Police for its "outstanding" job in cracking the case.
Singh's remark appeared completely out of sync with the mood of the city. It came on a day when the high court made its unhappiness known over the police's "evasive" status report in the case and demanded the names of officers on patrol duty on the route taken by the bus in which the gang-rape took place.
The home secretary was replying to a question on whether the police commissioner should resign taking moral responsibility for lapses that led to the rape. He was addressing a joint press conference with police commissioner Neeraj Kumar.
Attempting to restore people's faith in the police, Singh assured Delhiites that no 'goondagardi' (rowdiness), 'dadagiri' (bullying) or misbehaviour with women would be tolerated and a "very strict regime" would be put in place to ensure safety of people in the capital which recorded a 17% rise in rape cases in the past year.
"We will ensure that all necessary action is taken by Delhi Police ... people of Delhi will feel it," Singh said.
'Furnish case details by January 9'
A Delhi high court bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw on Friday said the police had submitted an incomplete status report. "We are not convinced," an anguished bench said, adding that the questions it had raised two days ago, when it took suo motu cognizance of the case, "had not been addressed.
"None of the details we sought have been mentioned. The bus couldn't be detected for 40 long minutes so we asked who were the policemen on duty on the route who manned the barricades and PCR vans? When we had asked specific questions why the report is evasive?" the bench asked Delhi Police counsel Dayan Krishnan and Delhi government sta8nding counsel Najmi Waziri.
Waziri conceded the status report filed by the cops suffered from absence of details but assured the bench that the "entire bureaucracy is seized of the matter and our primary focus is to investigate the case". "Many things cannot be brought into the public domain at this juncture," Waziri added.
The court then gave the police till January 9 to furnish details it had sought. To make it a water-tight casethat doesn't get botched up, HC also asked Waziri to ensure forensic examination in the crime be "expeditiously conducted by experts" since in many cases delay in DNA and CFSL reports affects the prosecution case.
The court's direction came after it learnt that there was no director at the CFSL. "Evidence is lost. They don't accept any sample as there is shortage of chemicals too. If it is so, then please rectify it immediately," the court directed, saying the Delhi government must look into the lack of infrastructure and other facilities at FSL labs.
During the hearing, Meera Bhatia, a woman lawyer assisting the court, raised apprehensions on the quality of medical care being given to the victim at Safdarjung hospital and urged the court to direct that she be transferred to a super-speciality hospital. But the HC refused, saying, "We have already noted in our previous order that the victim, if it is possible, should be shifted to a super-speciality hospital."
HC had on December 19 taken suo motu cognizance of the gang rape incident and decided to monitor its probe by directing the police to carry a "high standard" investigation and file the chargesheet only after the court's perusal.
Home secretary R K Singh, at his joint press meet with police commissioner Neeraj Kumar, said the police would file the chargesheet "quickly", seek life imprisonment for the accused and request day-to-day hearing of the case. Asked about the growing demand that the accused should be given death penalty, Singh said police were working as per law and according to the law, life imprisonment was the maximum punishment for rape.
On the possibility of including death penalty in the law for rape, he said, "We will have to look into the demand ... but there are many jurists and various human rights groups who are demanding abolition of capital punishment in India, though I personally believe there should be death penalty for such crime".
Singh complimented the Delhi Police for cracking the "blind case" within a very short span of time.
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