NEW DELHI: The Congress has slammed the BJP-led central government for the ‘unprecedented’ release of the eleven convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case.
The Gujarat government remitted the sentence of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case, just hours after PM Narendra Modi spoke about women empowerment in his Independence Day speech on Monday.
Slamming the Narendra Modi-led central government, Congress leader Pawan Khera on Tuesday asked whether the PM meant what he said.
The eleven released convicts were convicted in the gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven members of her family, including her 3-year-old daughter during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The Congress said: “You let off the convicts citing the 14 years spent by them of their sentence, that their conduct in jail was good, and the nature of the crime. If we just consider the nature of the crime, does rape not come in the category that the harshest punishment be given, that any sentence is not enough? And we saw today that those who were let off, they are being felicitated and honoured. Is this Amrit Mahotsav?”
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Congress leader Pawan Khera stated that he wants to remind PM Narendra Modi of the Raj Dharma that the former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had talked about during his visit to Gujarat after the 2002 riots.
Tuesday (August 16), marks the death anniversary of former Prime Minister of India – Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Khera added: “Does the PM not mean what he says? Or is it that his own party, its governments have stopped listening to him? Or does he say one thing to the country and another to his own party’s government?”
“How dare the PM talk about women empowerment from the ramparts of the Red Fort?” the Congress questioned.