Rewari gangrape case gets political: Prime minister, your silence is unacceptable, says Rahul Gandhi in a tweet

Almost six days after a 19-year-old girl was gangraped in Haryana's Rewari district, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the case is "unacceptable". Lamenting over the lack of safety for women in India, Congress chief tweeted saying, "India hangs its head in shame as another one of its daughters is brutally gang raped and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence is unacceptable."

"Shame on a government that leaves India’s women unprotected and afraid and allows rapists to walk free."

The Congress chief, who is scheduled to be in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool, also spoke out against rampant sexism while addressing a gathering.  "Men have this mindset that women are not equal to them. This is something that we need to improve by means of social change — to make men realise that women are as capable as they are," Rahul said. The Congress chief added that it was important that women representatives in fields like politics and police are necessary now more than ever before. Bringing up the women's reservation bill which is pending in Parliament, Rahul said the prime minister was silent on the issue. "We have committed to him — the moment the prime minister wants to pass the women's reservation bill, the Congress MPs will support him wholeheartedly. He has not responded."

Rahul Gandhi criticised the prime minister on Rewari rape case. Twitter @INCIndia

So far, no political leader has commented on the brutal incident. The girl, a CBSE exam topper hailing from Rewari, was abducted from a bus stop in Kanina town of Mahendragarh district on 12 September when she was on her way to a coaching class. She was allegedly drugged and gangraped at a room adjoining a tubewell in an agricultural field, the police said.

The Haryana police came under flak for dragging their feet over the initial stage of investigation, considered crucial in criminal cases. Heads began to roll in the state police department after media reports called out the "discrepancies" in the case. After the shunting out of Rewari Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajesh Duggal, a woman assistant sub-inspector has been suspended over alleged delay in taking action in the gangrape case of a 19-year-old woman.

"The orders to suspend ASI Hiramani of the Women's Police Station, Rewari were issued on Monday. She has been placed under suspension over allegations of delay in taking action on the complaint and negligence," a Rewari district police official said on Tuesday. Earlier, Duggal was moved out as the Rewari SP and Rahul Sharma was made the new district police chief.

The victim's family has alleged that the police failed to take prompt action on their complaint and delayed action by citing jurisdictional issues between their units in Rewari and Mahendragarh districts.

The family has alleged that the Women's Police Station in Rewari, after registering a "zero FIR" in the case, delayed action and failed to promptly hand over the probe to the Mahendragarh police, under whose jurisdiction the incident took place.

A zero FIR can be filed at any police station and can later be transferred to the police station concerned. The case has prompted the opposition parties to demand Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's resignation on moral grounds, saying the state had failed to protect its daughters.

The Congress on Monday demanded imposition of President's Rule in the state, alleging that the BJP-led government had utterly failed to tackle the law-and-order situation. Meanwhile, residents of the village where the woman was allegedly gangraped, claimed that the the spot where the crime took place was infamous for nefarious activities.

They alleged that there were incidents of girls being harassed by vagabonds at the spot in the past as well. "We demand an exemplary punishment for the accused. However, our plea is that no innocent youth of the village should be harassed by the police as many have been called for questioning," one of the villagers said.

Meanwhile, teams of Haryana Police continued with their raids on Tuesday to nab the two prime accused in the case — armyman Pankaj and Manish. The Haryana Police has so far arrested three men in the case, including Nishu, who, according to the police, is one of the three main accused.

The three arrested accused were remanded to a five-day police custody by a court in Kanina, Mahendragarh on Monday. Besides Nishu, the two other men arrested in the case have been identified by the Haryana Police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) as Sanjeev, a medical practitioner who checked on the woman's health condition after the crime, and Deendayal, the owner of the property where the woman was allegedly gangraped.

With inputs from agencies