Mumbai: Giving a clean chit to Home Minister R R Patil over his reported comment on checking rape, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Dilip Walse Patil today said he would see if there could be a code of conduct for the media for coverage of legislative proceedings. Walse Patil said he had verified the Home Minister's speech made in the Upper House yesterday and the comments that appeared in the media that “even a cop at each home cannot stop rapes “.
“I have gone through media reports and the recorded proceedings of the House. The Minister has not made any such comment,” the Speaker said.
Patil, who was present, said his statement had been deliberately distorted to “malign” him and urged the chair to take steps to ensure such incidents do not recur. The Speaker said he would consult Chairman of the Legislative Council to discuss whether a code of conduct for the media can be prepared.
Amid an outrage over the Badaun gangrape case, Patil had yesterday stirred a controversy by his remark on checking such crimes, saying it was impossible to post a policeman at every home where most of these incidents take place.
“Many crimes against women happen within the confines of homes. Is it possible to have a policeman in every household?” Patil had said while replying to a debate on crimes against women and dalits in the Legislative Council. After coming under attack from the opposition for his remarks, Patil had insisted he had not said crimes against women cannot be checked even if a policeman is posted in every household.
Leader of the Opposition Eknath Khadse had raised the issue in the Assembly and Speaker Walse Patil had said he would go through the records to see whether the Home Minister had made such a statement.
