Delhi: HC asks AAP govt why it can't repeatedly issue ads to deter crime

New Delhi, Aug 22: Delhi High Court has questioned the AAP government as to why it cannot repeatedly issue radio and print campaigns for deterring sexual offences instead of giving ads promoting itself with the tagline "Wo pareshaan karte rahe, hum kaam karte rahe".

A bench of justices Kailash Gambhir and Sunita Gupta made the remark after Delhi government said they were "forced" to pull out programmes, including jingles on radio, on creating awareness about such crimes as after sometime people get bored of them and do not hear them.

"Instead of ads like 'Wo pareshaan karte rahein, hum kaam karte rahein (they troubled us but we continued with our work)', why can't you issue again and again programmes to create deterrence among the perpetrators of sexual crimes and to make everybody aware of their rights," the court said.

The court was referring to the ads issued by Arvind Kejriwal government that praised its work and targeted the Centre. The court also pulled up the Centre and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for their "insensitivity" on the issue of creating mass awareness about how to bring down the sexual offences against women.

"We again lay emphasis on the fact that these mass awareness programmes through audio and visual medium need to be launched at a war-footing.

"Till date, we find that the respondents (Centre and Delhi government) despite various directions given by this court could not bring out any documentary or short film to sensitise the people, to create deterrence among the perpetrators of crime and to make everybody aware of their rights," the court said and asked the ministry concerned to prepare a documentary on the issue by next date of hearing.

The court had earlier also said the Centre and Delhi government were "not appreciative of the fact that one of the most effective mechanism to bring down the crime rate of sexual offences against women, could be through the process of mass awareness programmes and education" and on that front the two were "quite sluggish".

PTI