Naming anti-rape law after girl will be an honour: Family

BALLIA/NEW DELHI: The family of the Delhi gang-rape victim today said it had no objection to naming the proposed new anti-rape law after the girl, a day after Union Minister Shashi Tharoor mooted this proposal.

As Tharoor's suggestion triggered a debate, the Union Home Ministry gave indications that the revised law, which is expected to be stringent and facilitate speedier justice, is unlikely to be named after the 23-year-old girl who died last Saturday after battling for life for nearly two weeks.

Tharoor got support from former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for his proposal made yesterday with the BSP supremo suggesting that an all-party meeting be convened for this purpose.

"If the government names the revised anti-rape law after her, they have no objection and it would be an honour to her". the father and brother of the girl told PTI at their ancestral village in Ballia in Uttar Pradesh.

"If her name is made public for this purpose, they have no objection to it," the girl's family said.

Mayawati when asked to comment on Tharoor's suggestion said, "If the family of the victim has given its approval to the law being named after the rape victim I have no objections to it."

"The Central government should convene an all party meeting and take a decision in consensus with everyone", she told reporters in Lucknow.

Home Ministry officials said the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) do not have a provision for naming any law after an individual.

"No law has been named after any person in India. Neither the IPC nor the CrPC provides for that. One has to see the case in national perspective. The issue has wide repercussion while registering offences. This girl has been a catalyst to the changes in the anti-rape law but naming is not an option," an official said in New Delhi.

Tharoor, the Minister of State for Human Resources Development, had yesterday favoured making public the identity of the gang-rape victim wondering what interest was served by keeping her name under wraps.