UN urges punishment for India rapists
2013-01-11 20:13
Abuja - UN Women
head Michelle Bachelet on Friday urged punishment for those responsible for the
brutal gang-rape and murder of a young woman in New Delhi, saying a strong
message must be sent.
Bachelet, the former Chilean president, also told
journalists during a visit to Nigeria that sufficient laws existed to prosecute
rapists in many parts of the world, but more must be done to implement them.
"Those people need to be punished, need to be
punished because that's a woman's life," she said after being asked about
the New Delhi rape case, which has led to outrage in India and many parts of
the world.
"... The loss of life is unacceptable. They need to
be punished for that, but also to send a strong message to everyone that
violence against women will not be accepted."
The UN under-secretary general, on a regional tour to
promote women's rights, said "one of the problems we have seen worldwide
is that there are good laws in place but they are not implemented."
Police or judges often do not take the allegations of
abuse against women seriously enough, she said.
"Or many times the husband or the people who did the
violence, the perpetrators, they convince the women to withdraw the claims
...," she said.
Police in India say a group of six suspects lured a
23-year-old woman and her boyfriend onto a private bus in Delhi on 16 December
when they were trying to return home from the cinema.
They then took it in turns to rape the woman and violate
her with an iron bar, causing fatal internal injuries, and well as beating her
male companion.
The victim died in a Singapore hospital 13 days after the
attack, which triggered mass protests across India.
Five of the men are currently standing trial in New Delhi
for the attack.
A sixth will be tried in a juvenile court.
