Rahul Gandhi to join candlelight vigil at India Gate, says country cannot treat women ‘this way’ after outrage over Kathua rape

Congress president Rahul Gandhi questioned how anyone can protect the culprits of “such evil”, saying violence against a child was a crime against humanity.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will on Thursday night join a candlelight vigil at India Gate for an eight-year-old girl who was gang raped and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua.

The rape and murder of a nomadic Muslim Bakerwal community girl sparked protests across several locations in the country on Thursday. Jammu lawyers organised a shutdown on Wednesday against what it calls an attempt to target the “minority Dogras”.(Reuters File Photo)

“Like millions of Indians my heart hurts tonight. India simply cannot continue to treat its women the way it does,” he said on Twitter as he invited people to join the vigil.

Gandhi earlier said the “unimaginable brutality” cannot go unpunished, and called the violence against the child a crime against humanity.

The girl, who belonged to the nomadic Muslim Bakarwal community, was abducted on January 10 in Kathua district while grazing horses near her home. A retired revenue department official planned the crimes against her, says the chargesheet filed by the crime branch of the Jammu and Kashmir police.

A Special Investigation Team formed to probe the incident has arrested eight people, including two Special Police Officers (SPOs) and a head constable, who was charged with destroying evidence.

The case has left Jammu on tenterhooks, polarising the region on communal lines and once again exposed fault lines in the ruling coalition.

Several Congress leaders accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being silent on the issue.