Nearly two months after CBI Director Ranjit Sinha's controversial 'rape' analogy, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday was directed by the Delhi High Court to examine framing of guidelines with respect to government servants' "conduct" outside "office area" or in public.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana gave the direction while disposing of a PIL filed by Sudha Sundaraman of All India Democratic Women's Association and the Susheela Gopalan Trust seeking a code of conduct to be followed by public servants "outside their offices".
The PIL had been filed against the CBI Director and MHA for his remark made in November last year at a public event wherein he had said, "If you cannot enforce the ban on betting, it is like saying if you can't prevent rape, you enjoy it." The court also directed the petitioner to submit their suggestions before the ministry which would then examine it for framing the guidelines.
During the day's hearing, counsel for the petitioner advocate Kirti Singh submitted, "The CBI Director undermined the seriousness of the crime, which is a serious act of violence and since it (remark) was made in public it was directed towards all women in general."
Appearing for Sinha, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sidharth Luthra submitted that "the CBI Director had apologised for his remark and that service rules are already in place for conduct of a public servant".
To this the petitioner said the existing service rules do not provide for conduct outside the office area. After hearing the arguments, the bench asked ASG Rajeeve Mehra to examine the matter.
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