Responsibility of Cong to preserve RS dignity: Brinda

Ranchi: CPI-M Politburo member Brinda Karat on Friday said it was the responsibility of the Congress to protect the dignity of the Rajya Sabha and see that Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien steps down before the government moved the anti-rape ordinance. [caption id=“attachment_627251” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption]“The Congress leadership and the UPA government should ensure that the deputy chairman steps down before the ‘incomplete’ anti-rape ordinance following the Verma Committee report is placed in the Rajya Sabha,” Karat said at a press conference in New Delhi. The CPI-M leader claimed, “Since the Supreme Court has overturned the 2005 High Court judgement in the (Suryanelli) gang rape case, the deputy chairman is one of the accused.” The dignity of the Rajya Sabha will be ’tarnished’ if the anti-rape ordinance was placed in the House during Kurien’s tenure, she claimed. Kurien’s wife on Thursday termed the allegations against her husband as “malicious,” while Kurien himself rejected the charges as well as the demand for his resignation, arguing that the matter had been cleared by the Supreme Court. The victim from Suryanelli in Kerala’s Idukki district was abducted in January of 1996 and sexually exploited by different persons. She had sent a letter to the Supreme Court last week and sought a review of its order quashing all charges against Kurien. Meanwhile, Dharmarajan, an absconding convict in the gangrape case, was arrested by Kerala Police from Sagar in Karnataka on Friday. PTI