The Dirty Politics over Bhandara Rape Case

The Dirty Politics over the Bhandara Rape Case, where three minor Girls were sexually exploited and Murdered,  has taken a fume after the Home Minister Sushil Kr. Shinde named the Victims in the upper house of Indian Parliament.

Three minor girls from same family were brutally murdered after being sexually abused and their bodies thrown into a well in a village in Maharashtra’s Bhandara district.

The three sisters, who were studying in a local school, had gone missing on February 14 and their bodies were recovered from a well in the village on February 16.

The post-mortem report had said the girls, aged six, nine and eleven years, were raped and murdered. However, sources close to the investigation claim that they were not raped.

A recent forensic analysis report also showed that the girls were neither strangulated nor poisoned but failed to pinpoint the cause of the deaths.

In Rajya Sabha, Shinde named all the rape victims, which according to the law is prohibited. He however refused a CBI Probe into the Rape Incident.

The Politics turned dirty, when the matter was raised by Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, who said he shouldn’t have named Bhandara rape victims.

“As per the Criminal Law Ordinance 2013, the identity of rape victims is never to be revealed. However, the home minister in paragraph two has given names of all the three victims,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said.

“The whole house is discussing the issue. Home minister should consider this fact and withdraw the statement and have it corrected and place it again at 2 p.m.,” he said. Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien ordered that the names be expunged.

“It is a very important matter and it (names) should be treated as expunged and media should also not use the names in any reports else action will be taken,” said Kurien.

Ironically, Mr. Kurien’s name had figured in the Suryanelli rape case in Kerala and the government defended his continuing as House Deputy Chairman despite protests from the Opposition.

The Left MPs staged a walkout when Mr. Kurien presided over the House proceedings during a debate on the Bhandara rape case.

BJP leader Smriti Irani said the state government has not taken the matter seriously and convicts are still at large.

“The incident happened on February 14 and what state government did was suspending the in-charge of police station. The central government should give a directive to Maharashtra government to take stringent action against the perpetrators,” she said.

Trinamool Congress MP K.D. Singh called for an exceptional rule to ensure a central body to investigate heinous crimes like rape.  “I know law and order is a state issue but there should be provisions to ensure that such cases are handled on priority basis,” said Singh.

Home Minister R R Patil and Union Minister Praful Patel had earlier visited the village. Shiv Sena youth wing president Aditya Thackeray, and Sena leaders Vinayak Raut, Deepak Sawant, Neelam Gorhe and Ashish Jaiswal visited the family last evening.