Congress party, Shashi Tharoor in an ugly war of words over tweet on Delhi gangrape victim

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PTI: New Delhi, Jan 02 2013, 19:29 IST

Congress today snubbed Union Minister Shashi Tharoor for his tweet favouring making public the identity of the Delhi gangrape victim and naming the proposed anti-rape legislation after her.

"It is his personal opinion. I suggest that since he is a part of the government, he should have given the suggestion to the government rather than making any such statement in public. Party forum is also open for giving suggestions.

"It would have been better had he given this advice to the government as after all the decision has to be taken at their level and Home Minister (Sushilkumar Shinde) has to take the decision," party spokesperson Rashid Alvi told reporters here.

Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Resources Development, had yesterday favoured making public the identity of the gang-rape victim wondering what interest was served by keeping her name under wraps.

He also said the revised anti-rape legislation should be named after the victim if her parents do not have any objection.

Congress' disapproval of Tharoor's remarks has interestingly come on a day when the family of the victim said it had no objection to naming the proposed new anti-rape law after the girl.

Alvi, however, said "there is no such practice in our country where laws of Indian Penal Code are named after individuals, unlike in the US where they are named after the senators who move the bills.

Under the law, the identity of a rape victim cannot be disclosed. Printing or publishing the name or any matter which may make known the identity of any person against whom rape is committed is an offence under section 228-A of Indian Penal Code.

His comments also came close on the heels of Delhi Police registering a case against an English daily for publishing material which could lead to the identification of the victim.

This is not the first time Tharoor had courted controversy with his public comments.

In 2009, Tharoor had tweeted he would travel in "in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows", causing a political uproar.

He was also involved in controversies surrounding IPL in 2010 when Lalit Modi had alleged that he was asked by an influential Union Minister not to get into details of Sunanda Pushkar who was given equity of approximately 4.5 per cent in one of the league franchisees.

Tharoor denied the allegations but was forced to quit as Minister of State for External Affairs.

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Reader's Comments (16)| Post a Comment

Sashi Tharoor

SHANMUGAM THANGAVELU | 16-Feb-2013Reply | Forward

Sashi Tharoor is a very intelligent person, possessed with the gift of the gab and had a successful stint in the UN. His comments are by and large light hearted with a bit of sarcasm thrown in here and there, but never aimed at belittling anyone. Even his feud with Modi, is not below the belt. It is indeed nice of our PM to have recognized his calibre, and appoint him as a Minister is his team. One fervently hopes that this time, he treads with care avoiding controversies and goes on to prove his enormous wealth of talent in the service of the nation. One wishes him God Speed and good luck.

not upto his reputation

suryaprakash | 03-Jan-2013Reply | Forward

Tharoor had an image of a seasoned diplomat with good intelligence after he contested for Sec Gen post of UN. After his return to India and Indian politics, we are yet to see any of his diplomacy or intelligence. He gets publicity for wrong reasons like his GF/Wife, tweeting on trivial issues and making silly statements like this one. To this day we have not heard anything worthy of his past UN stint. Because of his good looks, Media likes to project him whenever they get an opportunity.

Lawmakers and Law Enforcers Know No Shame

Ashok | 03-Jan-2013Reply | Forward

The political class and the law makers will do everything except put their heads (if all they have one on their shoulders) together to straighten up the rotten state of governance and put in place a system that gives Indian woman the dignity, safety and security that has been denied so far. The tragedy is that, both the law makers and law enforcers are hand in glove with each other. All they are doing, as usual, is play political games with life and human values in India which they have reduced to merely a commodity on sale/purchase. Can home ministry which is safe keeper of the records enlighten us as to how many of rape victims to-date have been the daughters, sisters or kin of politicians/police and how many of the perpetrators of this crime are or have been the sons or kins of or the politicians or police officials themselves. The revelation will be shocking and show them in their true colors. But no matter what, the politicians, the police of this country will be never shamed.