Nirbhaya gangrape case: DCW Chief Swati Maliwal has written a letter to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar urging them to suspend today's parliamentary sessions. Her letter comes in the backdrop of the 10th anniversary of the Nirbhayta gang rape today (16th December, 2022).
Sharing a copy of the letter on her Twitter handle, Maliwal wrote, "It has been 10 years since the Nirbhaya gangrape case. However, nothing has changed until now. I am writing a letter to the respected LS speaker and RS Chairman requesting the suspension of the parliamentary session today and the holding of talks on the topic of women's safety in parliament."
The DCW Chief also mentioned about the recent acid attack on a 17-year-old girl in Delhi's Dwarka in her letter.
In her letter, Maliwal wrote further, "The problem of increasing crimes against women and girls has reached an epidemic proportion and governments are failing to take concrete steps to counter it. Even the Nirbhaya Fund that was set up for providing relief and rehabilitation for women and girls has been reduced substantially. Governments have failed to create deterrence in the minds of people against crimes against women and girls.
The Nirbhaya gang rape case had made global headlines, led to weeks of protests and also forced India to introduce strict laws for crimes against women. The main accused in the case was found dead inside the jail a few months after the crime. Four others were hanged in March 2020 while a juvenile convict was released after three years - the maximum punishment allowed under the law.
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