Panel to look into law change, PM says can understand anger

Leela Seth, a retired chief justice of the Haryana High Court, and Gopal Subramaniam, former solicitor general of India, are the other two members of the committee, which has been asked to submit its report within 30 days.

The group which met Sonia Gandhi at her residence claimed that the UPA chairperson had assured them that all necessary steps would be taken to ensure speedy punishment to the culprits. This group of seven included students, a BPO employee and a restaurant manager, who refused to give their names. While talking to reporters, they claimed that Sonia agreed with them that "women feel unsafe" in Delhi. They had a 90-minute meeting with Gandhi, during which they put forward 14 suggestions on how the safety of women in Delhi can be improved and how justice could be provided to the gangape victim.

The suggestions put forward by the group include increase in police patrolling, a directory of habitual sexual offenders, deployment of police in plainclothes, visible presence of policemen, improvement in city lighting and trial of sexual offences in fast track courts.

The group said it was satisfied with the meeting but that the protests will continue peacefully.

According to R P N Singh, Rahul Gandhi told the group that the issue was emotive but it must not lose its rationality. "Decision making should happen in a rational manner and it cannot be driven merely by emotions," Rahul said, according to Singh.

Singh said the prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC were imposed just as a precautionary measure keeping in mind the security of the protesters. "I apologise to all those who were injured in police action today," he added. "We did not want police beating our own students. But the police action came as some lumpen elements indulged in violence. Anti-social elements were involved in the violence."

... contd.

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