E-Paper
‘6-yr-old Dalit girl’s rape, murder in Punjab doesn’t shake their conscience’: Sitharaman’s swipe at Rahul, Priyanka
Sitharaman was referring to the Congress leaders’ visit to Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district earlier this month amid high drama following the death of a 19-year-old Dalit rape victim.
Union minister finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday targeted Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over the rape and murder of a six-year-old Dalit girl in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district and accused the Congress leaders of visiting “every other place which can help them politically.”
“A six-year-old child of a Dalit migrant labourer from Bihar is raped, killed and the body half-burnt in Hoshiarpur and it doesn’t shake the conscience of the brother and sister who rush to every other place which can help them politically,” the BJP leader said about the crime in the Congress-ruled state.
Sitharaman was referring to the Congress leaders’ visit to Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district earlier this month amid high drama following the death of a 19-year-old Dalit rape victim. Rahul and Priyanka met the family members of the victim and assured them of all support in getting justice for their daughter. They also slammed the state administration over its handling of the case.
Union minister of environment, forest and climate change Prakash Javadekar also hit out at Congress leaders, including the party’s national president Sonia Gandhi, for not visiting the grieving family in Hoshiarpur. He termed the grand old party’s delegation’s visit to the village in Uttar Pradesh a “photo op.” He said, “They don’t pay heed to the injustice done to women in the states ruled by their party, but visit Hathras and other places for photo ops with the victim’s family.”
In an apparent reference to Gandhi’s rallies in poll-bound Bihar, Javadekar said, “Instead of going on political tours, Rahul Gandhi should visit Tanda and Rajasthan and take cognisance of incidents of crime against women. The minister demanded strict action against the culprits.
A man and his grandfather have been arrested for raping and setting ablaze the six-year-old girl, a day after her half-burnt body was recovered from their house at Jalalpur village in Tanda, police said on Thursday. The arrests were made on charges of murder, rape and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The victim’s father has alleged that Gurpreet Singh took the girl to his home where he allegedly raped her and that he and his grandfather Surjit Singh allegedly killed her and burnt her body. The half-burnt body of the girl was found from their house, police said.
