Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri on Friday condemned the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in West Bengal and said it is "even sadder" that the incident happened in a state governed by a woman chief minister.
The whole nation should raise its voice against the heinous crime, she said and asserted a societal change is needed to curb such incidents.
In an interview with PTI, the first woman speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly said women only want equal rights and nothing more.
The biggest responsibility of bringing a social change lies with the mother and the teacher because children spend most of their time with them, Khanduri said.
"Crime should be condemned, law should be strict but there should also be change in the society," the Speaker said.
A postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty at a state-run medical college and hospital in Kolkata on August 9. While a civic volunteer was arrested in connection with the crime the next day, the Calcutta High Court ordered the immediate transfer of the probe into the crime to the CBI from the Kolkata Police.
"If such a heinous crime happens with a woman professional, a trainee doctor in a woman-ruled state like West Bengal, it is even sadder. It is very shameful that such a thing happened in a state which is known for its celebration of Navratri and Durga Puja," Khanduri told PTI.
However, she said the responsibility of raising voice against such a heinous crime rests not only with the people of West Bengal but also with the whole country.
After the Nirbhaya case, everyone hoped people would wake up but apart from the law, social change is also needed for that, Khanduri said.
"We ask girls many questions, like where do you keep roaming around? Why do you speak so loudly? Why do you laugh so much? Boys are not asked such questions.
"For this, the family and society will have to change their thinking. If a boy talks to his mother loudly or pushes his sister and abuses her, he will have to be stopped," she said.
About reports of atrocities against the Hindu minority in Bangladesh, the Uttarakhand Assembly speaker said it is not right to persecute people because they are in the minority or are weak.
On Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's criticism of the alleged "silence of activists" over the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh, she said, "I agree.. if a candle march is taken out to protest against one wrong thing, then the same should be done against other things as well." Khanduri expressed concern over the rise in social disintegration based on castes but said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, development issues have been kept above caste and religion, and for the first time there were talks of "universal coverage".
"If someone has to get a house under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana today, his religion or caste is not taken into account," she said.
Underlining the need for population control, which she claimed would solve many things, Khanduri said, "Population control will be not only for Muslims but for the whole country and it will benefit everyone." Praising Prime Minister Modi's leadership, she said that for the first time, the voice of women is being heard in the corridors of power and their small needs like toilets and gas stoves are being understood.
"Now women are not being treated as just a vote bank confined to their kitchens. They are being given respect," the Uttarakhand Assembly speaker said.
Asked about the proposal to build a new assembly building in Raipur area of Dehradun, Khanduri said it is the the government's responsibility to take action on the proposal.
However, she said the idea of having a new assembly building where all facilities are available is welcome.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.
