Uttar Pradesh Minister Narendra Kumar Kashyap, in Ayodhya, on August 4, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
A three-member Bharatiya Janata Party delegation on Sunday met the family members of a 12-year-old rape victim in Ayodhya, and gathered information about the incident.
The team comprising Rajya Sabha MPs Baburam Nishad and Sangeeta Balwant Bind, and U.P. Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Backward Class Welfare Narendra Kashyap held detailed discussions with the family and neighbours, and will submit a report to the BJP Other Backward Classes (OBC) morcha chief K. Laxman.
Also read | Akhilesh Yadav urges court to provide security to Ayodhya rape victim
“We had a detailed conversation with the mother of the victim and other people. We gathered information about the accused as well. We will get to the bottom of the case,” said Mr. Nishad. The BJP has continuously targeted the main Opposition party in the State – Samajwadi Party (SP) – over the incident since the main accused Moid Khan is being linked to the party and is said to be a supporter of SP’s Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad. Ayodhya is part of the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya yet again alleged that SP president Akhilesh Yadav is only worried about his vote bank and criticised his earlier calls for a DNA test of the accused. “Shri. Akhilesh Yadav, a pawn of the Congress, first forgot his PDA [Pichda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak or Backwards, Dalits and Minorities] voters by bringing in ‘DNA’. You are worried about your vote bank getting angry. People of the State expect the culprit to be punished and justice provided to the victim. The government will fulfil its responsibility,” wrote Mr. Maurya on X.
Mr. Yadav had earlier said: “The guilty should be punished, but if allegations are proven false after a DNA test, then the government officials involved should also not be spared.”
On the line of fire, the SP hit back saying “malicious intent of certain individuals to politicise such incidents would never succeed” and requested courts to take suo motu cognisance. “The government should arrange the best possible medical treatment for the rape victim. It is the government’s responsibility to protect the girl’s life. It is my humble request to the honourable courts to take suo motu cognisance and considering the sensitivity and seriousness of the situation, ensure safety of the victim under its supervision. The conspiracy of ill-intentioned people to politicise such incidents should never succeed,” Mr. Yadav said.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also waded into the issue with its State chief Vishwanath Pal alleging that “a few persons” are pressurising the mother of the Ayodhya rape victim to withdraw complaint and reach a compromise. Mr. Pal said the victim’s mother had informed the BSP delegation of such actions during its visit to her home on Saturday.
