New Delhi: After a BJP leader held a rally in support of the defendants in the Hathras case and another leader said the rapes will stop if parents teach their daughters the ‘right values’, a third Saffron party leader has defamed the character of the victim, describing her as’Waara‘(astray).
Ranjeet Bahadur Srivastava, a leader of the Barabanki BJP in Uttar Pradesh, claimed that the 19-year-old woman was having an affair with the defendant and called him to the millet field where she was found on September 14.
In a video he posted on his Facebook page, he says in Hindi that the defendant and the victim were having an affair. “This news is already available on social networks and news channels. She must have been caught, “he said, according to a translation by India today.
“These girls are found dead only in some places. They will be found dead in sugarcane, corn and millet fields or in bushes, sewers or forests. Why are they never found dead in rice paddies or wheat fields? he asks, implying that the victim was killed by his family because they discovered the ‘affair’.
Despite the UP police claim that the FSL report shows that the woman was not raped, the family and the victim have insisted that the 19-year-old was attacked and assaulted by four Thakur men. The woman, in her death statement, named four men, Sandip Singh, Ramu Singh, Ravi Singh and Lavkush Singh, and alleged that they raped and physically assaulted her.
Srivastava also defended the four defendants, saying they should be released pending a charge sheet in the case. “I can safely say that these guys are innocent. If they are not released in time, they will continue to face mental harassment. Who will return his lost youth? Will the government give them compensation? said the Barabanki leader, according to India today.
He falsely claimed that the victim’s family raised rape allegations only after congressional leaders repeatedly visited her.
Taking note of the BJP leader’s comments, the president of the National Commission for Women, Rekha Sharma, said on Twitter: “He is not fit to be called the leader of any party. He is showing his primitive and sick mentality and I am going to send him a warning. “
Srivastava has a history of making community statements and there are 44 criminal cases registered against him. Before the 2019 general elections, he asked people to vote for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ‘destroy the Muslim race’. In July 2019, he claimed that cows should be ‘rescued’ from the Muslims who raise them.
“When we consider that the girls from our homes go to their homes as’ love jihad ‘, shouldn’t we consider’gau kill‘Go home’ do they love jihad ‘too? This is love jihad. Cows must be taken from them at any cost, ”he said.
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