New Delhi: National Human Rights Commission Friday strongly condemned rising incidents of sexual assault on women in the country and pitched for stringent punishment as per law through fast track courts to the guilty, greater gender sensitivity in the society.
The Commission, in a statement released today, also called upon all State Governments to ensure security and safety of women.
This comes against the backdrop of a string of rape cases, the most gruesome being the Badaun gang rape, where two teenage Dalit girls were allegedly gang raped and murdered with their bodies found hanging from a mango tree in a village in Ushait area.
"The National Human Rights Commission has seen with concern several recent media reports on sexual assault in different parts of the country violating human rights of victim girls and women," the statement said.
Wherever, and in whatever number these incidents have happened, the Commission deplores all such acts, which have a direct bearing on human rights, including right to life, dignity and liberty, it said.
The Commission observed that women have been accorded an exalted and pious position in our culture and such attacks on their dignity are completely against and alien to cultural values and virtues that our society has cherished since time immemorial.
"Persons guilty of such heinous crimes against women deserve to be meted out stringent punishment as per the provisions of the law through fast track courts to set an example. The Commission on its part has been taking cognizance of such incidents and ensuring some justice to the victims as per its mandate," the statement said.
The Commission said it has also noticed that several incidents of sexual assaults have happened when women had gone out of their houses to answer the call of nature in open as there was no facility of toilets at their residences.
