Close on the heels of the Congress proposing chemical castration for rapists, main opposition BJP has also suggested maximum punishment to the accused in rape cases — either death penalty or chemical castration.

“There should be maximum punishment to the rapists, death penalty or emasculation (chemical castration of the rapist),” senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu told reporters in Kochi on Monday.

The BJP upped the ante a day after the 23-year-old Delhi gangrape victim was cremated in the early hours of Sunday, two weeks after she was raped by six men, brutally assaulted and thrown off a moving bus on December 16 evening. The victim died in a Singapore hospital early Saturday morning.

In a draft bill for a tougher law to check crimes against women, which could also include chemical castration in rare cases, the Congress has proposed imprisonment up to 30 years for rape convicts.

But lashing out at the UPA, Naidu said the ‘insensitivity, indecision and inaction” of the Congress-led government has sent a “wrong signal” in the country that the political class, especially the parliamentary system, has failed to rise to the occasion.

He said a similar suggestion for deterrent punishment of chemical castration has been made by the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs chaired by him. The proposals have been submitted before the home ministry and suggestions from the home and law ministries are being awaited, he said.

The committee’s next meeting would be held on January 4.

The Delhi gangrape incident has revealed the government’s “casual approach”, he said.

Criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his failure to address the nation for seven days after the gangrape, Naidu also flayed the police action against protesters in Delhi. Demanding setting up of fast-track courts in every district and in-camera trials to be completed within three months, the senior BJP leader said there should be speedy disposal of sex offence cases.

Pointing out that the women’s reservation bill had been pending for long, he said it is time to take up the bill on an urgent basis, adding that the BJP would support any initiative of the government in this regard.

Police reforms, judicial reforms and increasing women’s participation in police force are overdue, he added.