India Insight

The gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi that sparked public outrage across the country has also put the spotlight on policing in India’s “rape capital”.

Kiran Bedi, a former police officer who won the Ramon Magsaysay award in 1994 for her work in the city, says the Dec. 16 gang rape could have been prevented.

Bedi told Reuters in an email interview that a crime prevention plan and effective police training could help turn things around in New Delhi.

Q: What happened on Dec. 16 — could it have been prevented?
A: Totally preventable. If daily homework of crime prevention was done by the cops. Whether it was tough traffic checking, or responding to crimes reported, visible community policing, etc. And all over Delhi. Not at few places, by few officers.

Q: Were you surprised that police were targeted?
A: No. They were rightly targeted for not doing their daily duties well on crime prevention or crime detection or community police relations building.

A few months ago, Kiran Bedi visited the Thomson Reuters office in Bangalore as a guest speaker to mark International Women’s week and also to address us on corporate ethics and governance. It was also the day when some of us heard of a man called Anna Hazare and a bill called the Lokpal.

“A few of us activists, like Anna Hazare, if you’ve heard about him…,” began Bedi. “He’s called the Gandhi of Maharashtra,” and she continued further, enlightening us about the anti-corruption bill and the support and impact this man can provide.

“Anna Hazare is known to be very effective in the past,” she said. “Whenever Hazare has sat on a fast, the Maharashtra government gave in and he got the right kind of laws.”