Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday, 5 August, said that his government won't pardon anyone responsible for the alleged sexual assault on minor girls at a shelter home in Muzaffarpur district.
Kumar’s comments came a day after the Opposition parties, including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), joined the RJD-organised protest in Delhi's Jantar Mantar against the ‘inaction’ of the JD(U) government.
"Whosoever is behind the crime, will go to jail. Even those trying to cover up for the perpetrators will go behind bars," Kumar said.
"We have never compromised," Kumar said, urging the Opposition to have a look at the positive side of his work as well.
"One or two negative incidents are being highlighted by the Opposition," he said.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday, 4 August, shared the stage with top Opposition leaders including Left’s D Raja and Sitaram Yechury, former JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav and TMC’s Dinesh Trivedi at the protest against the mass rape in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur that recently came to light.
The protest was led by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
Rahul Gandhi shared the stage with top Opposition leaders at the protest against the mass rapes in Muzaffarpur.
(Photo: Twitter/@INCIndia)
AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, who met Tejashwi at the venue earlier in the evening, seemed to have left the venue before Gandhi arrived.
Arvind Kejriwal meets RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav at Jantar Mantar.
(Photo: ANI)
Launching a scathing attack on Nitish Kumar, Rahul Gandhi said that if Kumar was so ashamed by the incident, he should punish the guilty as soon an possible.
Nitish Kumar said that what happened was shameful. If he is so ‘ashamed’ of the incident, he should order a speedy probe into the matter and make sure the guilty are punished at the earliest.Rahul Gandhi
Tejashwi Yadav, who slammed Nitish Kumar for not taking action against the mass rape at the shelter home in Muzaffarpur, demanded a probe monitored by the Supreme Court.
Demanding justice for the girls, who were allegedly sexually exploited, Yadav said the accused should be given exemplary punishment and steps should be taken to ensure this does not happen again.
RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav with other party leaders at Jantar Mantar.
(Photo: ANI)
Recalling the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi, Kejriwal said fast track courts should be set up to to give death sentence to the accused for such heinous crime.
"I demand that this case be probed in three months and the accused be hanged," he said. The Delhi chief minister alleged that the accused have connections with influential people.
Yechury alleged anarchy is being sheltered by governments in BJP-ruled states. "We need to change this government....the slogan of 'beti bachao is now 'save beti from BJP'," he said.
Sharad Yadav said that these crimes have taken place under the nose of the JDU-BJP government and demanded "a Supreme Court monitored-probe conducted by the CBI".
He also said that a national commission should be set up to probe such crimes across the country, including Bihar. "The BJP is not saving the daughters of the country. It is instead busy saving cows," he said.
Student leaders and activists Shehla Rashid and Kanhaiya Kumar also joined the protest.
Hang Brajesh Thakur, Demands Tejashwi
Speaking to ANI earlier, Yadav demanded that the prime accused Brajesh Thakur be hanged till death.
“We want Brajesh Thakur to be hanged till death. If you see the number of crimes in Bihar has increased in the past one year. Cases of gangrape are being reported back to back from various districts of the state,” he said.
He further alleged that no action was taken over the child commission report and that Thakur is a close aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
“Even after the report of Child Commission was out no action was taken. FIR was lodged 2 months after Tata Insititute report came and in that too name of prime accused Brajesh Thakur was missing. Somehow Brajesh has been a close aide of Nitish Ji,” he said.
‘Will Force Nitish Chacha to Break His Criminal Silence’: Tejashwi Yadav
The RJD leader has been attacking the Nitish Kumar government over the Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal involving sexual abuse of more than 30 girls. Yadav is also seeking the resignation of the Bihar chief minister, following the Muzaffarpur case which according to him, has tarnished the state’s image.
On Friday, 3 August, Yadav took to Twitter to question the Bihar chief minister’s 'silence' on the rape of those minor girls.
The RJD leader has also written an open letter to the Bihar chief minister, further questioning him on his 'criminal silence'.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI and India Today.)
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