After Rewari gangrape, Congress says Haryana has become 'crime hub' under Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP govt

Chandigarh: The Congress stepped up its attack on the BJP government on Sunday over the gangrape of a 19-year-old girl in Rewari in Mahendragarh district, alleging that during its regime, Haryana had become a “crime hub”. Senior Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala and former chief minister  demanded that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar resign on moral grounds. “The insensitive and arrogant Khattar government has totally failed to control crimes against the daughters of Haryana and he has no right to continue even for a day as the CM,” Surjewala alleged in a statement here. [caption id=“attachment_3507199” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. PTI[/caption] The young girl from Rewari was abducted and gangraped while she was on her way to coaching classes, and the three key accused, including an army man, continue to evade arrest. Hooda, who visited her family in Rewari on Sunday, demanded Khattar’s resignation. “Law and order in the state has broken down completely. This is total failure of the government. The chief minister should quit on moral grounds,” he told reporters in Rewari. Hooda said the victim’s family told him that the police had not promptly taken action, giving the key accused a chance to flee. Launching a scathing attack, Surjewala said, “It is shocking that despite the national concern and loud claims by the state police, the key culprits of the heinous crime are roaming free for four days now.” “Haryana has become a crime hub under the Khattar government. Official figures prove that crimes against women have increased by 47 percent since the BJP government came to power four years ago,” the Congress leader alleged. Surjewala claimed 1,413 cases of rape were registered in various police stations between 1 September, 2017, and September 2018 as compared to 1,193 cases between September 2016 and August 2017. The number of rape cases during the same period in 2014-15 and 2015-16 were 961 and 1,026, respectively, he added. Revealing a figure from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, Surjewala said: “In 2016, the Haryana Police filed chargesheets in only 56.2 percent of cases, which is the second lowest among all states and Union Territories in the country. Such unprofessional attitude and ineffectiveness of the state police encourages the culprits as the national average of filing chargesheets is much higher at 78.1 percent.” Slamming the BJP government, Surjewala said, “The truth is the state government, which vows to save daughters, has made the state a witness to the most number of rapes and gangrapes.” He said NCRB figures for the year 2016 are available at present as data for the years 2017 and 2018 have not been released yet. “But Haryana reported 1,090 murders, 1,189 rapes, 191 gangrapes and 4,019 kidnapping and abductions in 2016, which is three murders, three rapes and 11 kidnappings and abductions on an average day. It is a matter of shame that Haryana has got the highest average of gangrape cases in the country now,” Surjewala added. Meanwhile, in Chandigarh, Khattar, who reviewed with Director General of Police BS Sandhu the progress of the investigation into the gangrape , reiterated that the accused involved in the incident would be given strict punishment as per law. He hoped that they would be nabbed soon. Earlier in the day, the chief minister told reporters in Pathankot that in the case, all the three accused were known to the victim. “It is most unfortunate when anyone known is involved in such a gruesome and heinous incident. Out of the three accused, one is serving in the army, which is even more unfortunate that such a person is an accused in this case,” Khattar said. The girl, a school topper hailing from Rewari who had been felicitated by the government, was abducted at a bus stop in Kanina town in neighbouring Mahendragarh district on Wednesday while she was on her way to a coaching class, the police said. She was then allegedly drugged and gangraped at a secluded spot in the fields.