New Delhi, May 17 : Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Friday lauded Border Security Force (BSF) personnel for guarding areas prone to infiltration and said more facilities would be provided to the troopers deputed on the border-posts.

"The government is aware about the difficult conditions in which BSF personnel work. Their task becomes more difficult in adverse climatic conditions. The government is taking every possible step to enhance the service conditions of the BSF," Shinde said at 11th investiture ceremony of the BSF here.

New Delhi, May 15 : Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde will visit the US next week to discuss internal security and cooperation between the two countries on issues such as cyber security.

Asked if India will seek questioning of Tahawwur Hussein Rana, sentenced in the US for helping David Coleman Headley, one of the masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Shinde said: "When we talk, such things come in."

However, he added that the home ministry does not usually take up issues which have already been taken up by the Ministry of External Affairs.

New Delhi, May 9 : India will send back the body of Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah, who succumbed to his injuries sustained in an attack in Jammu's Kot Bhalwal jail, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said Thursday.

"The ministry of external affairs is coordinating with the Pakistani authorities to complete the formalities to send his body back home," Shinde told reporters here.

Asked about Pakistan's demand for an international probe, Shinde said: "I cannot comment on this now as no demand has come to us till now. When the demand comes, I will tell you."

New Delhi, May 3 : An inquiry was on in the attack on a Pakistani prisoner in a jail in Jammu, union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said here Friday.

"The incident took place at 8-8.30 a. m. There was an attack on a Pakistani inmate in Jammu jail. An inquiry is being conducted," Shinde told reporters.

He, however, refused to comment if it was in retaliation to the attack and consequent death of Sarabjit Singh in Pakistan.

New Delhi, April 22 : Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Monday said an inquiry has been ordered into Delhi Police lapses in investigating the disappearance of the five-year-old girl who was found brutally raped, and attempts to hush up the matter later.

In a statement tabled in the Lok Sabha amid din, Shinde said the station house officer (SHO) and the investigating officer (IO) have been placed under suspension, taking note of the lapses in the investigation.

New Delhi, April 20 : Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Saturday assured that proper action would be take in the rape case of the five-year-old girl here Saturday.

"An inquiry has been ordered. Proper steps will be taken after the inquiry report will be handed over to us," said Shinde.

He said that he was informed of the details of the rape case Friday and that the the accused had been arrested and will be brought to Delhi from Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

New Delhi, April 18 : Tamil Nadu Police have managed to trace the owner of the motorcycle used in the Bangalore blast, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said Thursday. He ruled out any impact of the incident on the forthcoming Karnataka assembly elections.

"So far we have not come to any conclusion (regarding probe)... With the assistance of TN (Tamil Nadu) Police we have traced owner of motorcycle," Shinde told reporters here.

Kolkata, April 17 : The central government has ordered an inquiry into the blast near the BJP's office in Bangalore, union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said Wednesday.

"I have ordered an inquiry. The secretary home department will look into it," Shinde told reporters here.

Sixteen people were injured, two of them seriously, in an explosion in a congested locality near the office of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Karnataka capital. (IANS)

New Delhi, March 21 : Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Thursday moved a bill in the Rajya Sabha to provide more teeth to India's anti-rape laws, two days after it was passed by the Lok Sabha.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013 also makes voyeurism and stalking punishable offences.

Moving the bill, Shinde said the rape and subsequent death of a 23-year-old woman shook the conscience of the whole nation. There was a demand for making anti-rape laws stronger after the Dec 16, 2012, gang-rape and brutal assault of the woman in New Delhi, who later died.

New Delhi, March 19 : The Lok Sabha Tuesday passed the anti-rape bill which keeps the age for consensual sex at 18 years and makes voyeurism and stalking punishable offences.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, was tabled in the house by union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde a day after the cabinet approved its draft.  The house debated it during the day.

The anti-rape bill will replace the ordinance promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee Feb 3.  The legislation had to be passed by parliament before April 4, when it would have lapsed.

New Delhi, March 12 : Amid differences of opinion in the cabinet over the proposed anti-rape law, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Tuesday expressed confidence that the government will resolve the issue by Thursday and pass the legislation by March 22.

There is a sense of urgency in passing the law by March 22 as the bill will replace an ordinance promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee Feb 3 and has to be passed within six weeks from that date.

The first half of the budget session ends March 22 and the house will reconvene April 22.

New Delhi, March 11 : The cabinet will consider the Criminal Law (Amendment) bill Tuesday, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said, asserting that there were no differences in the government on the issue.

"There are no differences between home and other ministries. There are certain legal points which need to be examined. We are bringing it to the cabinet tomorrow," Shinde told reporters at his monthly press conference Monday.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013 seeks to impose tougher sentences for crimes against women than those on the statute book at present.

New Delhi, March 11 : Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Monday said the government had not given up on the controversial anti-terror agency National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and said he would take it up with the cabinet.

"We are not leaving it. We are forwarding a note (on the NCTC) to the cabinet," Shinde told reporters.

The proposed national counter-terror centre has been opposed by several states who do not want it to give police powers to search and seize.

Kolkata, Feb 25 : Claiming that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had a positive view on the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Monday said the central government was trying to break the deadlock over the proposed anti-terror hub.

"She (Banerjee) is willing. But other chief ministers are opposing it. We have to hold talks with them also," Shinde told reporters after holding a meeting with Banerjee at Bakkhali in South 24 Parganas district.

New Delhi, Feb 22 : The Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice before lunch Friday as opposition members slammed the government for adopting a casual approach towards terror and demanded a discussion on the twin bomb attacks in Hyderabad.

The first adjournment took place soon after the house met at 11 when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted the question hour adjourned to take up the Thursday evening bombings that killed 16 people.

Hyderabad, Feb 22 : Fourteen people were killed and 119 injured in the twin bomb blasts that rocked Hyderabad Thursday evening, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said Friday.

Talking to reporters after visiting the scene of the blasts and calling on the injured at one of the hospitals, Shinde said six of the injured were in a critical condition.

He said he can't share more information as parliament is in session.

New Delhi, Feb 5 : Taking on the Congress party and Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde over his `saffron terror' remark, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Tuesday said that the statement was a well-planned conspiracy to distract the people's attention from their failures.

Talking to mediapersons here at a press conference, Joshi said that Shinde has insulted the entire nation, culture and tradition of the country by his comment.

New Delhi, Feb 2 : With the BJP deciding to boycott Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde over his "Hindu terrorism" remarks, the Congress Saturday said the party can disagree with his comments but it is unfair to reduce everything to confrontation.

"It is a bit unfair. Sushilkumar Shinde is the home minister. He obviously has information and he is very seasoned. We should respect him. You can always say that you disagree but it is not fair to reduce everything to a confrontation," External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said.

New Delhi, Jan 24 : Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde should be removed for his comment on "Hindu terror" that had hurt national interests, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj said Thursday.

Asking Shinde to not cross his limits, Sushma Swaraj said politics can be practised to the extent that it benefits the Congress or even harms the BJP but "should not be taken to a level where national interest is affected".

New Delhi, Jan 4 : Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has said crimes against women and weaker sections of society need to be curbed with an iron hand.

Shinde said the recent gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on a running bus was unacceptable in Indian democracy.