New Delhi: Hitting out at former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday asked him whether the "Dalit daughters of Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh are not the daughters of India"?
Addressing a press conference here, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "Yesterday, Rahul Gandhi tweeted that the daughter of Dalit is daughter of the country. There are no two opinions on this, she must get justice. But are the daughter of Dalits in Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh, who were subjected to heinous crimes, not daughters of this country."
Patra condemned the recent incident in which a nine-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly gang-raped, murdered and then cremated by her attackers in South West Delhi on Sunday evening.
"We all strongly condemn the way a small girl was raped in Nangal in Delhi. Law enforcement agency is working on it with full sincerity and more than four people have been arrested. SC Commission and Joint Commissioner of Police also visited the victim's family," Patra said.
Referring to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), Patra said, "According to NCRB, Rajasthan tops the list of rape cases. Rape cases in Rajasthan have increased by 30 per cent in the last six months. In 2020, there were 13,750 rape cases in Rajasthan.
"During a discussion in the Assembly, the Ashok Gehlot government had replied that Dalit women file false cases of rape. Fingers were pointed at all those NGOs on the floor of the Assembly, which fight for the rights of Dalits," the BJP leader said.
Patra further asked if Rahul Gandhi did not know or is he deliberately trying to be ignorant about the POCSO ACT in order to take political advantage of the unfortunate incident?
"The second provision of section 23 of the POCSO Act makes it clear that you are not to disclose any fact about the victim, which would reveal the child's identity," he said.
Patra demanded that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) should take cognizance and issue a notice to Congress leaders for violating the provisions of POCSO Act.
Rahul Gandhi met the family of the victim on Wednesday and shared a picture of him with the parents of the victim.
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