Amarinder Singh said a charge sheet for the Hoshiarpur incident will be filed this week (Archive)
Patiala:
Faced with a wave of attacks by the BJP over the alleged rape and murder of a six-year-old Dalit girl in Hoshiarpur district on Wednesday, Punjab’s Chief Minister Amarinder Singh criticized critics of his government on Wednesday, noting that the accused He had already been arrested and a charge sheet in the case will be filed in court next week.
The Chief Minister, who yesterday dismissed the similarities between this incident and the alleged gang rape and torture of a 20-year-old Dalit woman in UP’s Hathras, noted that his government had responded with “swift action … and the accused had been caught without delay. “
“The Punjab police took swift action and the defendant was caught without delay, unlike Hathras. That (delay in police action) was the reason why Rahul Gandhi had to rush to Hathras, to ensure justice for the family of the victim, and do not visit Hoshiarpur, “Singh told reporters.
“If the Punjab government or police had not responded quickly, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and others would have reacted in the same way as they did in the Hathras case,” he added.
On Saturday, Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Nirmala Sitharaman lashed out at top congressional leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over the Hoshiarpur tragedy.
Mr. Gandhi replied: “Unlike UP, the governments of Punjab and Rajasthan are NOT denying that the girl was raped, threatening her family and blocking the course of justice. If they do, I will go there to fight for justice.” .
The comments by BJP leaders came after Congress targeted their party’s rule in UP by Hathras and questioned Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s record on protecting women.
Amarinder Singh had also reacted, saying that if his government had been as slow to react to the horror as was the UP administration in Hathras, the Gandhis “would have been forced to take to the streets to fight for the victim.”
Mr. Gandhi and Ms. Gandhi Vadra were reunited with the young woman’s family, who died from injuries sustained in the attack after two dramatic attempts. They were detained each time by the UP police: the first saw Mr. Gandhi thrown to the ground by the police and the second saw Ms. Gandhi Vadra mistreated by the police while trying to protect a party worker during a lathi charge .
Both the BJP and the UP police have come under severe scrutiny for their conduct of the Hathras investigation, including by the Allahabad High Court.
Police have suggested that the woman could not have been raped because forensic samples collected more than 10 days after the crime found no semen. The police also rushed the woman’s funeral: it took place at 2.30 am and her family could not attend.
Yogi Adityanath said earlier this month that his government was committed to the safety of women.
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