Laws need revamping

CHANDIGARH, Oct 30: United Nations (UN) official and American law expert Michael E. Hartman today opposed Union Home Minister L K Advani’s proposal for death penalty to rapists saying that it would, in turn, prove disastrous to the interests of the victim.

“Any rational rapist would kill the victim after raping her, if mandatory death penalty is introduced,” he said replying to a query at a gathering of mediapersons at the Chandigarh Press Club, this afternoon.

Hartmann, presently posted as judicial system officer at the UN mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was there to deliver a talk on “International Human Rights Law”. He stated that both the Indian laws and the police needed revamping. He said that it was strange that India was following the Police Act and the Indian Evidence Act framed by foreigners, over a 100 years ago.