Kolkata rape-murder victim was like our daughter, tough law needed to prevent such crimes: Harbhajan Singh

New Delhi [India], August 29 (ANI): Amid the outrage over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh has said that the issue should be taken seriously and tough law should be enacted so that such crimes are not repeated.

Harbhajan Singh, who is Rajya Sabha MP of Aam Aadmi Party, said that the issue of women’s safety is very important and the issue will be raised in Parliament.

“Women’s safety is very important for all of us, there should be a law for it and it will be discussed in the Parliament as well. I feel that a law must be passed on this because if such incidents keep happening then how can we say that our country is safe for our mothers and sisters?” he asked.

“The victim was also our daughter, so this should be taken very seriously and it should not be made a political issue, everyone should get together and make a law on this so that any brutal person thinks a thousand times before committing such a crime,” Singh told ANI.

The brutal rape and murder of the trainee doctor has sparked a wave of protests in West Bengal and other parts of the country.

President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday wrote an open letter ‘Women’s Safety: Enough is Enough’ and said the gruesome incident of rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata has left the nation shocked.

She expressed her sense of outrage at the incidents of atrocities against women and called for self-introspection to uncover the roots of the malaise.

Expressing concern over collective amnesia over the memory of criminality, she said the time has come not only to face history squarely “but also to search within our souls and probe the pathology of crime against women”.

The President called for honouring the memory of the victims to make society more vigilant in the future and said the recent spate of crimes against women should force honest introspection.

She spoke of the need to counter the mindset that sees “the female as a lesser human being, less powerful, less capable, less intelligent”and said it is “objectification of women by a few that is behind the crimes against women”.

“The gruesome incident of rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata has left the nation shocked. I was dismayed and horrified when I came to hear of it. What is more depressing is the fact that it was not the only incident of its kind; it is part of a series of crimes against women. Even as students, doctors and citizens were protesting in Kolkata, criminals remained on the prowl elsewhere. The victims include even kindergarten girls. No civilised society can allow daughters and sisters to be subjected to such atrocities. The nation is bound to be outraged, and so am I,” she said.

The trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing the case, has conducted the second round of polygraph tests on Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

CBI officials have also conducted the polygraph test on the arrested accused, Sanjay Roy, in connection with the crime.

The CBI took over the investigation into the rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee doctor of the state-run hospital following directions of Calcutta High Court.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ordered the security of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital to be handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) while hearing the suo motu case concerning the incident.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has suspended membership of Sandip Ghosh.