New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid while describing the Delhi bus gangrape incident as shocking and horrifying, has however, stressed to the world community that this incident should not be taken as representative of the state of Indian society.
The External Affairs Minister, who has just ended his two-day visit to France, told a French daily that the incident was horrifying and unacceptable, but was not an endemic situation even if the statistics concerning rape were a cause of concern.
He said India had very strict laws but still it was realised that their implementation had to be improved and accelerated.
“We are determined to act with firmness and rapidity. But one should not think that India could be represented by this horrible incident,” Mr Khurshid said.
His response came when asked whether the tragic affair “did not reveal the precariousness of the status of women in the society, as well as the politico-legal lacunae, and whether these inequalities and discrepancies did not constitute an impediment to the development of an emerging country like India?”
Mr Khurshid sought to remind the questioner that some 50 per cent of elective posts were reserved for women, and they were in high positions in enterprises, banks, sports, politics and medias.
He said the gangrape incident was “a tragic and sad story that has shocked even more as it took place in a neighbourhood in Delhi where the police were present, and not in a remote region. “But it is not something that happens on every street of every city in the country. Any incident like this one is one too many,” said the External Affairs Minister. (UNI)
