Laws are not affective, hence people are not afraid: Om Puri

Kolkata, Aug 24: Demanding a speedy justice delivery system to tackle crimes, veteran actor Om Puri on Saturday said people are not afraid of the law as it is not "effective".

"Stringent punishment should be there so that people are afraid of the law. Nobody is afraid of the law because it is not effective, it takes so much of time," Puri told reporters here when asked to comment on the gang rape of a 23-year-old photojournalist in Mumbai.

The 62-year-old actor who was here to participate at a fundraiser for poor cancer patients at the Tata Medical Centre, lamented that the case of the last year's Delhi gang rape incident is still in the fast track court.

"If this is the condition of the fast track court case then what will happen to other cases," he said and wondered why the government had not yet decided about juveniles. "If he knows how to rape a woman is he a juvenile? If tomorrow Pakistan sends terrorists who are below 18, do we consider them juveniles and leave them?" he wondered.

On some politicians blaming migrants for crime, he said people come to the city for work. "They are essentially workers whether they run a taxi or put a sandwich stall," he said, adding, that it is a neither a question of whether the accused is a Hindu, Muslim or Christian as "such elements are there in every community".

PTI