The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The CPI(M) Polit Bureau welcomes the report and recommendations of
the Justice Verma Committee concerning sexual violence against women.
The report and recommendations are comprehensive and situate sexual
violence against women within a broader framework of socio-economic
conditions and issues concerning governance, the law, politics and
social attitudes and the reforms required to ensure justice for women.
The Polit Bureau appreciates the excellent work put in by the committee
which has completed its work before time.
It is incumbent on the Government to act without any delay on the recommendations. The CPI(M) demands:
(1) that the concrete recommendations concerning changes in the
rape and sexual harassment laws should be placed and passed in the
forthcoming session of Parliament
(2) that a multi-ministerial committee should be set up with a
time-bound mandate of one month to look into the other recommendations
concerning different agencies such as on police reform, on bringing
armed forces personnel under the purview of the criminal laws and
withdrawing protection under AFSPA, changes in the Peoples
Representative Act, on khap panchayats, on improvement of conditions in
juvenile homes, on specific facilities for disabled women etc.
(3) Action taken report on these recommendations should be presented
so that urgent reforms required in the areas mentioned by the Verma
committee can be taken forward.
