The Indian government has announced plans to name and shame convicted rapists, in the wake of widespread protests over the gang rape of a young student.
Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh, India’s junior Home Minister, said the names, addresses, and photographs of the convicts will be posted on the Delhi Police website , in a move to combat an endemic problem of sex crimes against women.
According to the Herald Sun , Singh told reporters “we are planning to start it [the campaign] in Delhi,” hours after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said women in India were treated unfairly.
Singh added:
“We are very serious about dealing with the problem and taking all possible action as early as possible.”
The Times of India reports that the government-run National Crime Records Bureau had been told to compile a directory of convicted rapists before the uploading of personal details begins.
The minister’s announcement comes a day after the Indian government revealed it had launched a judicial inquiry into the brutal attack on the 23-year-old medical student, who was airlifted to a Singapore hospital from Safdarjang hospital in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Doctors in Singapore are to “battling” to save the victim’s life after horrific injuries, which include intestinal and abdominal damage, said The Guardian .
In the attack on December 16 , the young woman was raped on a moving bus by six — now arrested men — then beaten with an iron bar and thrown off the bus along with her male companion.
Widespread protests in New Delhi followed the gang-rape. Reportedly, the government is committed to an overhaul of the country’s laws on rape. Currently such an offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.