Shiv Sena accuses BJP of double standards in Delhi Dalit girl rape, murder case

Raut said that BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra’s defence of the party by citing figures of atrocities against women in Congress ruled states such as Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh was off the mark.

Shiv Sena on Sunday said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party terming Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the family of the minor Dalit girl-- allegedly raped and killed by a priest and 3 employees of a crematorium in Delhi-- a sham, reeked of double standards as BJP had brought the Parliament to a standstill over Nirbhaya rape and murder case when it was in the Opposition in 2012-2013.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut wrote in Saamana that it was BJP, which was politicising the visits to the  Delhi rape and murder victim’s family. (Photo Courtesy- PTI)

Sena’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, in his weekly column ‘Rokthok’ in party mouthpiece Saamana, said it was BJP, which was politicising the visits to the victim’s family and was not being sensitive towards rape victims.

“A nine year old girl was raped and then brutally killed. Many leaders like Rahul Gandhi visited the victim’s family. The BJP does not approve of the meetings and calls it a sham. A few years ago BJP, [then] as an opposition party, launched an agitation across the country after the Nirbhaya case and paralysed the Parliament holding the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government responsible. However, today after nine years, when they are in power, they are shrugging off their responsibility by undermining the incident,” Raut said, reminding that the BJP-led Central government was responsible for law and order in Delhi.

Raut was referring to a three-cornered political slugfest in Delhi over the incident between BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Raut’s party is ruling Maharashtra in an alliance with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) after having severed ties with BJP.

Raut said that BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra’s defence of the party by citing figures of atrocities against women in Congress ruled states such as Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh was off the mark. “Does that mean that BJP should condone such incidents [in states] where they are ruling just because similar incidents are happening in Congress ruled states,” questioned Raut.

Raut also accused the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) of bias for having issued a notice to Twitter India for hosting a picture posted by Rahul Gandhi, in which he is with the suspected rape victim’s family. The NCPCR said the image revealed the identity of the minor’s family members violating provisions of the (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) POCSO Act and Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act.

Raut also said that the Uttar Pradesh government, ruled by BJP stopped Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi from meeting the Hathras rape victim in October 2020.