Girija Vyas calls for collective responsibility in combating crime against women

New Delhi, Mar 11 (ANI): In the backdrop of the murder of 21-year-old Delhi University student Radhika Tanwar, National Commission for Women chairperson Girija Vyas on Friday urged the people to act together and responsibly to combat crime against women in the country.

Vyas, while signing a Memorandum of Understanding with police and various NGOs here, said the citizens needed to act responsibly

"We all have to wake up. From security point of view, obviously police's role would come in the first place, but wake up! We, too, have to be awake," she said.

Former top cop-turned-social activist Kiran Bedi, who was present at the event, also urged people to act responsibly, and blamed the civil society for not playing an active part against crimes.

Bedi said crime against women, like the murder of Radhika Tanwar, would continue unless the public acts together.

"Till we take some actions (towards the violence against women) and create an environment of all collective responsibilities, such problems will continue happening in the society," she said.

Bedi said a collective involvement, with both civilians as well as police, is required to eradicate crime from society.

"We did not create the environment to report (crime) nor to do a thorough inquiry on the report. We did not make it a practice (to act responsibly). So I am here requesting through media that come, we will make an environment together, a platform for civil defence volunteers where we can make the students its volunteers, and can teach them their responsibilities," she added.

The National Commission of Women is celebrating the Centenary of International Women's Day this year with the theme 'Access to Justice'.

Amid increasing outrage over the murder of Radhika Tanwar, Delhi Police today identified her killer as Vijay alias Ram Singh, a "mentally unstable" man who might have been involved in such an incident before.

"The accused is still at large and mentally unstable," the police said.

On Thursday, Radhika's family said that a police sketch of the suspect matched the man who had stalked her for nearly three years.

Radhika was shot while walking across a pedestrian bridge by an unidentified person near South Delhi's Ramlal Anand College on Tuesday morning, where she was enrolled. (ANI)