Home » Anna Hazare begins fasting into silence against convicted accused of Nirbhaya gang rape case

Anna Hazare begins fasting into silence against convicted accused of Nirbhaya gang rape case

by Raju Vernekar
0 comment 3 minutes read

IT News
Mumbay Dec.21

Noted social activist Anna Hazare has began ‘maun vrat (fasting into silence)’ at his native Ralegan Siddhi village in Ahmednagar (Maharashtra), as a protest against growing crime against women and delay in awarding punishment to the accused convicted in 2012 Delhi Nirbhaya gang rape case.
Hazare who began his agitation at after paying obeisance to Yadavbaba on Friday, has vowed to continue the agitation till such time the Nirbhaya case accused are hanged. “If the accused are not hanged immediately, I will start indefinite hunger strike”, he said before beginning his “maun vrat”. The 6 accused had gang raped a paramedic Jyoti Singh (who was named Nirbhaya) in a running bus in New Delhi on 16 December 2012. The victim subsequently died in a Singapore hospital. One of the accused Ram Singh, committed a suicide in Tihar jail on 11 March 2013, while a juvenile served was released after serving three year jail term.
Hazare had complained to the prime minister that no rapist had been hanged since August 14, 2005, and 426 convicts were on death row.
 ”Whole country rejoiced after 4 accused involved in the rape and death of the 27 year old  veterinary doctor Priyanka Reddy in Telangana, were killed by police in an encounter on 6 December, because people’s faith in judiciary has been eroding”.
The rules related to police investigation are not followed properly. Despite fast-track courts, the judgements are delivered late. There are number of unfilled posts of judges and the litigations have been piled up through out the country. This emboldens the criminals. “The Union Government is responsible for keeping the posts unfilled leads to delay in justice”, Anna said.
He said that in a letter dated 10 December 2019 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi he had given him the idea of his agitation but there was no response. As such he began the agitation. The four accused convicted in 2013, are yet to be hanged. Nirbhaya’s mother has been waiting for justice for the last 6 years, but the government does not bother about tears in her eyes, since “it has become blind”, Anna said.
He also demanded re-introduction of the  “Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill 2010” saying that such act would bring in discipline in judiciary. The bill “was passed by Lok Sabha on 29.03.2012 but it could not be taken up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha as Parliament was adjourned. It lapsed after dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha. Subsequently the department of justice said that “at present there is no proposal to bring a fresh Bill”.
The bill called upon judges to follow certain standards of conduct and any violation of these standards could lead to complaints to a “National Judicial Standards Oversight Committee”. It also sought to make it mandatory for judges to declare their assets and liabilities and that of their spouses and children. At present, the procedure for complaints against judges of the Supreme Court and High Court is governed by the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 under which only an MP can make such complaints through a motion presented in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. The Bill, however, met with resistance from a section of the legal fraternity which felt that it would compromise judicial independence.
It may be recalled that Anna had stirred the country by his agitation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to demand introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill in April 2011.
In the meanwhile the Tihar jail authorities on 18 December issued notices to all four convicts- Akshay, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh of the Nirbhaya case, giving them a deadline of seven days to move for mercy petition. If they fail to do so, the Jail authorities will decide the next course of action.

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