NEW DELHI: Breaking his silence on the Kathua and Unnao rape cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the incidents had shamed the nation and no offender would be spared as the government was committed to ensuring that victims of the crimes received full justice.
Speaking at a function here, the PM said the incidents did not befit any civilised society and had shaken the humanitarian sensibilities of society. “I want to assure the nation that no offender will be spared. Justice will be done and fully so. The atrocities (zulm) inflicted on our daughters... these daughters will receive justice,” he said.
“As a society, as a nation, we are all shamed by this (incidents),” the PM said. “The type of incidents that we have seen in the last few days, they challenge the concept of social justice. The events that are in discussion in the last two days certainly do not befit any civilised society, it is shameful,” he added.
Modi’s detailed remarks at the inauguration of the B R Ambedkar memorial at Alipur Road were a clear denunciation of the brutal sexual assault of a minor in Kathua and the rape charge against BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar in UP.
The PM’s remarks followed widespread criticism of the participation of two BJP ministers in J&K in protests organised by the Hindu Ekta Manch in favour of the accused in the Kathua rape case. The ministers were withdrawn from the state government on Friday even as the crime acquired communal dimensions with local lawyers opposing filing of the chargesheet by the state police.
“Our freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the future of this country... this is an insult to their sacrifice...,” he said. “I had said in my first speech from Red Fort in 2014, we ask a girl who comes home late — why have you come in late? I said ask your son where did he go? The perpetrator is a son. It is our duty to battle this. I assure that government will do all it can to ensure this,” the PM said.