'Serious Concern Of The Society': PM Modi Urges Prompt Action On Crimes Against Women

Raising the issue of women’s safety for the third time in recent weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for prompt action against crimes targeting women and children.

His strong remarks follow protests against the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital and the sexual abuse of two four-year-old school girls in Badlapur near Mumbai. Addressing the National Conference of District Judiciary, PM Modi said “Today, atrocities against women, safety of children… are serious concerns of the society.”

‘Strict laws’

“Many strict laws have been made in the country for the safety of women, but we need to make it more active. The faster the decisions are taken in cases related to atrocities against women, the greater assurance of safety half the population will get,” he added. The Prime Minister’s remarks on women’s safety come in the wake of nationwide outrage over the Kolkata rape-murder case.

On Friday, Union Women and Child Development Minister Annpurna Devi replied to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s second letter to PM Modi reiterating her earlier demand for strict punishment for heinous crimes such as rape and rape-murder.

The WCD Minister mentioned that stringent punishments for rape/ rape with murder “already exist in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)”. “It prescribes for a minimum of 10 years rigorous imprisonment for rape and extendable up to life imprisonment for the remainder of the natural life of the convict or with death depending upon the severity of the crime,” the Union Minister said in her letter.

Last week, Modi termed crimes against women an unpardonable sin, adding the guilty should not be spared. Speaking at the ‘Lakhpati Didi Sammelan’ in north Maharashtra’s Jalgaon, Modi said the safety of women should be a priority. “The safety of mothers, sisters, and daughters is the country’s priority. I have repeatedly raised this issue from the Red Fort,” he said. Modi said that he would tell every political party and state government that crime against women is an unpardonable sin. Whoever is guilty should not be spared, he added.