MHA gets first report on rape

The Union home ministry on Thursday received the first inquiry report set up after the 23-year-old student’s brutal gangrape. HT reports.

The Union home ministry on Thursday received the first inquiry report set up after the 23-year-old student’s brutal gangrape.

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It is learnt that the report broadly backs the police claim but is said to have pointed out that the initial police response could have been better.

The report was submitted to home secretary RK Singh on Thursday evening and is being kept under wraps. A home ministry official said the report would be processed and only its excerpts may be made public.

Veena Kumari Meena, a home ministry joint secretary-rank officer, was asked to inquire into the police response.

This came after the gang rape victim’s friend lashed out at Delhi Police for its slow response in reaching the spot and delay in taking her to hospital.

Sources said the report was expected to come as a breather for Delhi Police that has been in the firing line of chief minister Sheila Dikshit and east Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit.

The Meena panel has, however, taken a dim view of how the chartered bus had been plying in the Capital without a permit.

A police officer said technically, the transport department’s enforcement wing and not the traffic police was expected to check validity of permits.

Meanwhile, the Justice JS Verma panel — constituted to recommend changes in the legal framework — will submit its report on January 23 after considering representations from government agencies later this week. The panel has received thousands of recommendations from the public.

The Justice Usha Mehra panel, tasked to ascertain if the gangrape could have been prevented by any agency, has a three-month deadline.