On January 27, the day after nation-wide celebrations of India’s 64th year as a Republic, Justice J S Verma indirectly confirmed on television a shameful fact that the anti-rape protests on Raisina Hill underlined in December: that there aren't too many mainstream politicians interested in representing women’s rights as an issue. In an interview to Karan Thapar on the television channel CNN-IBN, Justice Verma revealed how apparently detached the government was from the three-member committee he headed, that had been tasked to suggest ways to strengthen the rape laws. First, he said, his committee had had no dealings “at all” with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde in the month it took to prepare the report – nor, for that matter, after it was submitted. Neither Mr Shinde nor Home Secretary R K Singh, he said, were present to accept the report when it was submitted on January 23; it was received by a joint secretary in the ministry. The report contained several recommendations for reforming the administration of existing laws, and this disinterest, if true, does not inspire much confidence that the government has the political will to carry out such reform.
Justice Verma also said that the report was commissioned in a manner that will strike observers as very strange. He received a phone call, he said, from Finance Minister P Chidambaram – who was not even in New Delhi at the time, but in his Tamil Nadu constituency of Sivaganga – who passed on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s request that he head the committee. Mr Chidambaram relinquished the home portfolio last year. Why should the PM direct the finance minister to call Justice Verma on a serious law and order issue, and not Mr Shinde or a senior official in the prime minister’s office? So far, this sequence of events is yet to be contested or clarified by an official of the government.
Observers could thus, with some justice, wonder if the Union minister responsible had no views on the matter whatsoever. The question of disengagement goes deeper than the government being distant with the final report and ungenerous with facilities, a charge Justice Verma also levied. It appears that the party that dominates the ruling alliance, too, seemed unable or unwilling to co-operate closely enough. Justice Verma said the Congress’ General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi arrived at his residence past midnight to personally hand over suggestions to the panel. Sonia Gandhi did personally apologise for this irregular behaviour but it does suggest a lack of seriousness.
If the government or the ruling party wished, through the Verma Committee, to suggest that its use of lathis and water cannon during the protests last month were unrepresentative of its attitude to women’s safety, then it does not seem to have succeeded. Since that time, several senior politicians, and even the President of India, have spoken of the seriousness of the issue, but such reactions were seen as delayed and insufficient. Nor can this be blamed on a generation gap alone; reportedly Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, when asked by reporters what he thought of the Verma Committee report, replied that he would read it and then respond. This response is still awaited. It is noteworthy that Justice Verma pointed out that violence against women can only be effectively controlled if existing laws are implemented properly. When the committee empowered to examine how their safety is treated with such distance; when political voices are not raised to back the report’s recommendations, can the implementation of the laws conceivably improve?
