PM promises justice for daughters of India
KATHUA OUTRAGE Two BJP ministers who defended accused quit J&K govt
NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday termed as “shameful” the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu’s Kathua and the sexual assault on a teenager by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao, and promised justice to the victims, moving to calm public anger over the twin incidents.
Almost simultaneously, two BJP ministers in the Jammu and Kashmir government, who had defended the Kathua accused in public, resigned. “Ministers Chander Parkash Ganga and Choudhary Lal Singh submitted their resignation letters to me at 4 pm. They have given their reasons as to why they attended the rally (held by the Hindu Ekta Manch) in Hiranagar,” said J&K BJP chief Sat Sharma. Their presence in the cabinet had become a key sticking point in the BJP’s ruling coalition with the PDP in J&K.
Separately, in an interview with Hindustan Times, home minister Rajnath Singh too promised justice to the families of both the Kathua and Unnao victims and urged that no one “politicise” the incidents.
“The incidents that we have seen in the last few days challenge the idea of social justice,” Modi said at the inauguration of the Ambedkar National Memorial on Friday evening. “In the last two days, the incidents which are being talked about certainly don’t behove any civilised country. It is shameful... As a nation and as a society, we are ashamed of such incidents.”
An eight-year-old girl was kidnapped in January in Kathua, confined to a temple, drugged and subjected to multiple rapes by a group of men before she was murdered a week later, according to the charge sheet filed on Monday by J&K crime branch. A teenager alleged she had been raped last year by BJP member of the UP legislative assembly Kuldeep Singh Sengar, whose brother is accused of having fatally assaulted her father earlier this month. The father died on Monday in judicial custody, where he was sent on the charge of possessing an unlicensed firearm.
The incidents have stirred anger and outrage, and handed ammunition to the opposition to attack the central government.
Modi went beyond the two cases and said it was time to stop such “internal evils.” Recalling a speech he made at Red Fort after becoming prime minister, he said “I had the courage to say from Lal Quila.. that we ask girls about their whereabouts when they come home late but those parents should also ask their boys where they were when they come home late. They, who commit crimes against our mothers and sisters, are also sons of a mother. And that’s why (developing) social sensibilities are our collective responsibility.”
NEWDELHI: Terming the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua as “deeply unfortunate and shameful”, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said that there must be justice for the family of the victim. He also said that there will be “justice” in the Unnao case, in which a BJP legislator has been accused of rape.
“What has happened in Kathua is sad. It is shameful. Anyone belonging to any religion, community cannot but condemn the incident. The family must get justice,” Singh said in an interview.
Singh, the highest ranking minister in the Narendra Modi government, is the senior most political figure of the BJP to speak out on the Kathua rape.
His comments come even as leaders of the party in Jammu and Kashmir have been accused of speaking up on behalf of the alleged culprits.
When asked about them, Singh said, “No one, no one, can defend it. No one should politicise an incident of this nature. I have told people in the party to normalise the situation.” Singh, who met Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti earlier this week, discussed Kathua and the subsequent developments with her. He said, “I have spoken to the CM and said that the situation should get normalised.”
When asked about demands that the Prime Minister speak on the issue, Singh said, “We are all talking about it. We are condemning it. There is no need to expect the PM to react on every issue.” On the demand by certain BJP leaders in the state that the probe be handed over to the CBI, Singh said, “The Centre can’t intervene in this. The state government has to decide. It has to recommend (for the CBI probe).”
Singh also said the UP government’s decision to request and hand over the Unnao case to the CBI is “proof” of its intent.
“I don’t think there is any scope for debate on it any more. There is no ambiguity or doubt about the intent of the UP government. They would not have handed it over to the CBI otherwise. The intent is to punish the guilty.”
When asked about the perception that the BJP was defending its MLA and there was a delay in handing it over, Singh said, “The Uttar Pradesh government has set up a committee to see if there was any error.” Singh reiterated that there will be justice in the Unnao rape case.
What has happened in Kathua is sad. It is shameful. Anyone belonging to any religion, community cannot but condemn the incident. The family must get justice. RAJNATH SINGH, home minister