Kolkata:
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad mentioned the name of the medical student who died after being brutally gang-raped by six men in Delhi while demanding death punishment for the perpetrators at a function in Kolkata today.
"I went to meet the family of the victim and the father related how the young girl was subjected to barbarism. He revealed his daughter's name to me," said Mr Prasad before mentioning the name of the victim to the audience.
"So long as a rape victim is alive you cannot mention her name, but in this case she is no more," added Mr Prasad while addressing an interactive programme on women's empowerment organised by the FICCI Ladies Organisation in Kolkata.
Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar this month had said that the law was not in favour of revealing the identity of the woman.
Citing examples of Arab countries where criminals are stoned to death, Mr Prasad demanded the culprits should be hanged and called for stronger laws and stringent punishment for rape and other crimes against women.
"Our party has always been advocating for punishment for rapists and in the next session of parliament we will put pressure on the government to amend the respective laws and provide death for rape," he said.
"If
Raavan can be killed for abducting
Sita, then why can't these inhumans be hanged. Unless there are stringent punishments we cannot prevent crime against women," Mr Prasad said.
The 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist was brutally gang-raped by six men in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, sparking a nationwide protest over crime against women. She died on December 29 in a Singapore hospital where she was airlifted for specialised treatment.