delhi

Updated: Jan 05, 2016 02:28 IST





Delhi police commissioner BS Bassi on Monday said he would choose to “shoot or hang” the perpetrators of crime against women on the spot if the Constitution of India allowed.

He, immediately however, added that since the Constitution didn’t allow any such thing, the police was bound to uphold human right of every individual and works in accordance to that.

“If the constitution of India permits, then the Delhi Police personnel will not mind exercising the authority to hang or shoot perpetrators of crime against women on the spot. However we are committed to human rights and respect them,” he said.

Bassi said that the main reason behind growing crimes against women in the capital is the poor sex ratio. “The sex ratio at present is 600 women to every 1,000 males. “There are men roaming around who do not look at women as their mother, daughter, sister or wife but as a commodity. This is the why we see cases where a 21-year-old rapes an 80-year-old woman or a two-month-old baby girl is sexually assaulted,” he said.

Bassi also added that his force was genuinely concerned about security of women and did not believe in sheding “crocodile tears” to show their concern. “We may not appear to be very sweet. But we are very genuinely concerned about women safety. When the world is failing to provide justice to women, it is my request to my successors to take this issue up as a challenge, identify vulnerable women and become their guardians. The aim should be to empower these women by teaching them self defense techniques so that they are confident,” he said.

Commenting on the Delhi Police’s equation with the current government in power, Bassi stated that Delhi was very fortunate that its police force was not functioning under the state government’s ambit.

Justifying the comment, Bassi explained that the Delhi Police is able to function with a free hand without any political pressure only because it does not fall under the Delhi Government as a chief minister would have “local interest”.

“The people of Delhi are fortunate that the Delhi Police is not working under pressure. We function only on merit, not under political pressure. The PM or home minister do not have any local interests. So we get to function without any undue intervention,” he said.