Mr Defence lawyer: have you lost it?

The defence lawyer of two convicts in the December 16 gang rape case has invited trouble by making mindless remarks that he would have burnt his daughter alive if she was ever involved in love affairs or indulged in premarital sex.

Referring to the 23-year-old victim in the December 16 happening,  A.P. Singh told the media persons in reply to a question, “if my daughter was having premarital sex and moving around at night with her boyfriend, I would have burnt her alive. I would not have let this situation happen. All parents should adopt such an attitude.”

The scandalous statement was made on Saturday, a day after verdict was pronounced in the case. The court had awarded death sentence to four convicts- – Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh, who had brutally gang-raped a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus in New Delhi on the night of December 16, 2012 and the girl and her male friend were maliciously assaulted, her abdomen ripped apart with an iron rod and internal organs pulled out. They were thrown out of the bus moving at a high speed and the convicts also tried to run the vehicle over them. She was left on the road half-naked, seriously injured, severely bleeding and shivering in the winter chill.

Since the verdict has been pronounced, Singh has been repeatedly making absurd statements, which has upset the Delhi Bar Council and they are likely to take an action against him.

Reportedly, Secretary of the lawyers’ body, Murari Tiwari, said he has been receiving verbal complaints from NGOs and various other organisations condemning Singh’s statement. “I have asked the complainants to give their complaints to us in writing. In case we don’t receive any complaint in writing, then the DBC would suo motu take up the issue at its September 20 meeting. Tiwari also said that Singh’s statement comes under “professional misconduct”.

Singh has been lashed out for terming the judgement politically and emotionally driven.

The immature statements of Singh have put a question mark on the frame of mind of the society. If the educated once are so sullied in their thinking then what can be expected out of the illiterate and destitute, which lack family guidance and good parenting.

I would like to ask you Mr Lawyer, have you lost your conscience? Would you do the same with your son, if you caught him roaming in the night with his girlfriend or indulging in premarital sex?

And if this is a publicity stunt, then I must say, it has crossed all the levels of shoddiness.