LUCKNOW, APR 22,
Union Minister Santosh Gangwar waded into a controversy on Sunday after he said a day earlier that a “brouhaha” should not be created over one or two rape cases in a big country like India.
The remarks come against the backdrop of a public outrage over brutal rape and murder of a minor in Kathua, and that of a 17-year-old girl in U.P.’s Unnao allegedly by a BJP MLA.
“Such incidents [rape cases] are unfortunate situation… But sometimes you can’t stop them. Government is active everywhere and taking action which is visible to everyone,” he had said in Bareilly.
“In a big country like ours, if one or two incidents take place, [a] brouhaha should not be created over it. This is not fair… Government is taking effective steps…Whatever is necessary will be done,” he had said.
Mr. Gangwar, BJP MP from Bareilly, holds the portfolio of Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour and Employment.
President promulgates ordinance
President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday promulgated an ordinance to provide stringent punishment, including death penalty, for those convicted of rape of girls under 12 years.
Under the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance cleared by a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, new fast-track courts will be set up to deal with such cases and special forensic kits for rape cases will be given to all police stations and hospitals in the long term.
In his first comments on the incidents of rape in Unnao and the sexual assault and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week said that no criminal will be spared and daughters will get justice.
“Such incidents shake our sensibilities. I want to assure the nation that no criminal will be spared. Justice will be done. Our daughters will get justice,” he had said while inaugurating the B.R. Ambedkar memorial in Lucknow.
While in London to attend the just-concluded Commonwealth Summit, Mr. Modi had said that the rape of a daughter was a matter of shame for the country.
In the Unnao case, the CBI arrested BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on April 13, hours after an Allahabad High Court order that he was influencing the “law and order machinery”.
