BJP slams Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot over his rape law remarks

Jaipur: The BJP on Sunday slammed Ashok Gehlot for his rape law remarks and said that the Rajasthan chief minister is trying to hide his government's failures to curb rising incidents of atrocities against innocent girls in the state.

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that the chief minister's statement is "unfortunate".

"In the last three years, Rajasthan has become the centre for atrocities against young innocent girls. Nothing can be more unfortunate that the issue is being twisted by making controversial statements to hide their failures," said Shekhawat.

Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Rajendra Rathore said Gehlot’s statement is "unfortunate and shameful".

The CM, who also heads the home department, cannot escape the failure of his government in curbing increasing rape cases in the state by making absurd statements, Rathore said.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi on Friday, chief minister Gehlot said that the cases of murder after rape have increased in the country following the law providing death sentence for rape convicts came into force.

“Ever since the death penalty (for rape convicts) is brought after Nirbhaya incident, the murders after rape have increased. The rapist sees that the girl will become a witness tomorrow, so he not only rapes but also kills her. This is happening across the country. This is a very dangerous trend,” Gehlot had said.

The CM was referring to December 16, 2012 Delhi gangrape incident, which was later called as the 'Nirbhaya' incident.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2020, Rajasthan has earned the dubious distinction of registering the highest number of rape cases in the country followed by Uttar Pradesh. Though the state continues to top in rape cases in 2020, the number of such cases (5997) has declined by 11.45% in comparison to 2019, the NCRB data shows.

Reacting to the CM’s statement, BJP leader Rathore said the statistics of NCRB and police report show that the state ranks first in the country in rape cases. He also claimed that from January 2020 to January 2022, 4,091 cases have been registered under the POCSO Act.

Rathore said that in the previous BJP government, a law was made for the provision of capital punishment to those accused of raping a minor. Unfortunately, the CM, who has failed to curb the incidents of rape of innocent girls, is now opposing the provision of capital punishment.

“If you have the courage to bring a resolution against this law in the assembly, then we will give a befitting reply to them,” he said.

Rathore claimed that 16 incidents of rape are taking place in Rajasthan every day and Gehlot has stated that 48% of rape cases are false.

By making such statements again and again, the CM is doing an act of encouraging the morale of the brutal rapists instead of breaking them, the BJP leader said.

Shashikant Sharma, OSD to CM Gehlot, said, "He (Gehlot) had given a statement on rising unemployment, inflation, and increasing crimes, which has been presented in a distorted manner by BJP's IT cell." Sharing a video of Gehlot, his another OSD Lokesh Sharma said, "Listen and understand...CM Gehlot expressed concern over the increasing trend of murder of rape victims across the country. The form in which he spoke is being made a matter of controversy without any reason. He called it a dangerous trend which is a matter of concern for all."