Rapists should be jailed till death: Tirath

She said that there was a need to look into why crimes against women were on increase despite the country having some tough laws in place.

"Till death they should remain in jail. It shouldn't happen that they come out on parole or after finishing the life imprisonment term of 14 years, that should not happen.

"We have to make this law effective. I have talked about this with the Home Minister," Tirath said when asked about gangrape of a nurse in Bathinda after she was abducted in a car.

Describing the incident as "very shameful", she said the country has laws to deal with it and there has been talk about community participation as well as voices are raised from every section of society.

"In spite of that, what type of mentality is this which indulges in gangrapes repeatedly?" she asked on the sidelines of the National Conference on Implementation of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), 2005 here.

A 24-year-old woman, who is currently out on bail, has alleged that she was raped by two men after being abducted from Chandigarh and later thrown out of a car in Bathinda district.

Endorsing the growing demand for stringent punishment for rape convicts, Tirath said: "I have come to know that the (Bathinada rape) culprits have not been arrested so far.

"But after this we need to... Which is the demand of the public, that these rapists should be met with some strong punishment, like life imprisonment unto death."

The minister, however, stressed that unless there is public participation from every segment and at all levels it will not be easy to get rid of this problem.