CM of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has promised to bring in a law to punish rapists within 21 days of a crime. The CM also praised his Telangana counterpart KCR, & mocked the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday, over the reported encounter in Hyderabad where 4 men accused of rape were shot dead. Jagan was addressing the Andhra Assembly when he made the statements. 

On Monday, MLAs were discussing the issue of sexual violence against women. Convicting such violence, Jagan spoke about the gangrape & murder of Disha (name changed) a veterinarian in Telangana.

“This is an incident for which the entire society needs to bow its head in shame. A 26-year-old doctor was raped & killed & burned, in a pre-planned manner. Her bike tyre was punctured. When such an incident happens, how should one respond? How should the police respond? Politicians?” he asked. 

He said that “We need to ask ourselves how we & our police should respond if a similar incident were to happen in our state. After seeing everything on TV, after seeing her parents’ pain, we all thought it’s not wrong, even if they were gunned down".

Jagan said that a law would be brought in wherein stringent punishment would be meted out to perpetrators of crimes against women & the case should be taken to its logical conclusion within 21 working days.

He said that “Investigation of cases of crime against women should be completed in one week & the culprits should be punished within three weeks".

The proposed Bill is likely to be introduced in the House this week & will have dedicated courts to deal with crimes against women. It will also include the zero FIR provision, which means that police have to register a case anywhere irrespective of jurisdiction to instil confidence among women, an official release from the Govt. said. The Bill will also address the issue of moral policing on social media, & also talk about blocking porn websites. It will also speak about prohibition in the state, the release said. 

The CM said, “Our Govt. has closed 43,000 belt shops in villages across the state. We canceled permissions to permit rooms in wine shops in order to decrease the consumption of alcohol".

He added, “Pornography is another reason for crime against women. Though porn sites are blocked, we are not able to control people from watching them. A new bill will be introduced in Assembly addressing all these issues".

Praising his Telangana counterpart KCR, CM further said, “Following media reports about the  gangrape incident, soon the government reacted. I'm saying hats off to Telangana CM KCR & Telangana police officers right here in the House. The encounter took place in unexpected circumstances.”

He was referring to the reported encounter by the Telangana police, where four rape & murder accused were shot dead just 500 m away from where Disha’s body was burned. While several activists, Advocates, & even some police officials have called the Telangana police action extra-judicial & have condemned it, Jagan took a different view in the Assembly. 

Taking a dig at the NHRC, which took cognisance of the encounter & constituted a 7 member team to conduct a probe, Jagan said, “An encounter took place. If the same thing happens in a film, where a hero chases & encounters someone, won't we clap & celebrate? But in real life if anyone who has the guts does the same, what happens is someone called National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) comes down from Delhi & questions saying its wrong, & why & how it happened. This is the pathetic condition our legislatures are in today.”

The CM also spoke about the 2012 Delhi gangrape & murder, about how Nirbhaya’s family is still running around for justice. Promising a law to ensure punishment for rapists within 21 days of the crime, he further stated that women in the country are looking for instant relief whenever such incidents happen. 

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