The public reaction to the recent Delhi gang-rape is knee- jerk in nature rather than a concrete or rational opinion, justice J Chalameshwar of the Supreme Court has said.
Inaugurating a one-day seminar on ‘Offences against Women and Children’ and ‘Terrorism: Challenges Ahead’ organised by the Bar council of India and the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh here on Saturday, he said the incident had evoked such a response for two reasons: one the place being the national capital and the second being the brutality with which it was committed.
‘’The most alarming factor is the recklessness of the perpetrators of the crime. We should rather focus on the reasons for such recklessness among the offenders in society, which is the root cause of the problem,’’ he said while commenting on the extreme demands for capital punishment, castration of offenders and the like.
Justice Chalameshwar said there were certain common factors for the two topics of the seminar: offence against women and children, and terror actions. ‘’The thing that is common in both is that they are committed against the weakest in the society. While other crimes can be anticipated, acts of terror like the recent twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad cannot,’’ he said and explained that while cultural problems were found to be the cause of crime against women and children, it was political problems that were the main reason for the acts of terrorists.
‘’People are not happy with the present state of affairs. It is high time representatives of legal fraternity took a more proactive role rather than limiting themselves to holding occasional seminars or workshops,’’ he said.
Justice KC Bhanu of the High Court, GB Reddy of Osmania University, advocate Kalpana Khote and others presented their views during the two sessions of the seminar.