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Congress president Rahul Gandhi, intensifying his attack on the Centre over the Kathua and Unnao rape cases, is holding a candlelight protest at India Gate in New Delhi. [caption id=“attachment_4423029” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
File image of Rahul Gandhi. Twitter@INCIndia[/caption] The Congress has been slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his silence on the on two cases of gang rape in
Jammu and Kashmir
and
Uttar Pradesh
, both BJP-ruled state. Rahul, earlier took to
Twitter
to
express anguish
and shock on the brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua, while he taunted the BJP for failing to act against its own MLA accused of gang-rape and murdering the victim’s father in Uttar Pradesh.
The Congress party also lashed out at the government after two BJP ministers in Kashmir were seen making controversial comments in favour of the accused in the Kathua rape case. Slamming Modi over his day-long fast against the washout of the second part of Parliament’s budget session due to disruptions, which the BJP blames on the Congress, Congress leader Kapil Sibal said: “Why don’t you fast against incidents of rape?” In the Unnao rape case, a 17-year-old minor has alleged that BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his men abducted and gang-raped her in 2017. The woman tried to immolate herself in front of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s residence, alleging police inaction. The woman’s father, who had been picked up by the police on some vague charges died the next day, on 3 April, after being thrashed by Sengar’s brother and his supporters. The MLA has made several appearances in front of the media and claimed his innocence. Meanwhile, the government failed to arrest Sengar while an FIR was only registered on Thursday under various sections of IPC, including the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act. The case has now been handed over to the CBI . In the Kathua case, a small child of eight was picked up by the members of the majority community, apparently to scare and dislodge the members of the girl’s nomadic tribe from the area. A crime that is described in blood curling detail in the chargesheet filed by a SIT of Jammu and Kashmir Police, the child was raped five times by four men and was later strangulated and bashed to death. The SIT has arrested eight people, including two Special Police Officers (SPOs) and a head constable, who was charged with destroying evidence. Lawyers of the Jammu Bar Association and members of Hindu Ekta Mach have been protesting against the arrest. They demand a CBI probe alleging that the local police is biased against the Dogra community and is incriminating them on false charges.