INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
her first comments on two rape cases that have jolted India, Union Minister Smriti Irani condemned "attempts to politicise" the incidents
and said: "As a woman, I request victim-shaming to be stopped.Smriti Irani is the second woman minister at the centre to comment amid
protests over the rape and murder of an 8-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir and a BJP lawmaker accused of raping a teen in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao
Maneka Gandhi, in a video message this morning, said she was "deeply, deeply disturbed" and would move an amendment in the law to bring in
the death penalty for child rapists."The law and the administration will work according to the constitution
There are some people who want to politicise such incidents and that is expected too
But as a woman, I would request that victim shaming should not be done," said Smriti Irani, responding to a question on Congress president
Rahul Gandhi's midnight march in protest.She also took a dig at the Congress over Gayatri Prajapati, a rape and corruption accused former
minister fielded by the Samajwadi Party in the Uttar Pradesh polls
for three days and gang-raped repeatedly before she was murdered, the police said."Those who asked for votes for Gayatri Prajapati are
People know the reality," the Information and Broadcasting Minister told reporters in Amethi, the parliamentary constituency of Rahul
Gandhi.Last night, Rahul Gandhi was near India Gate in the heart of Delhi to demand justice for the Kathua eight-year-old and the Unnao teen
The protests are seen to be an effort to target the ruling BJP at the centre and the two states."Wherever we see, woman and children are
getting raped and murdered
We want the government to act
This is a national issue, not a political matter," said Rahul Gandhi, stopped a few metres short of India Gate.Though the Kathua rape and
murder took place in January, central politicians were largely silent until details in a police chargesheet revealed the sheer cruelty and
horror that the child was subjected to before she was killed.
