New Delhi, June 2 – Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati visited Badaun in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday to meet the family of two Dalit girls who were raped and murdered on May 27. Addressing the media after her brief meeting with the victims’ family, Mayawati said it is central government’s responsibility to deal with this issue and deliver justice.
Targeting the ruling Samajwadi Party government over the Badaun case, Mayawati said that there was no law and order in Uttar Pradesh. The BSP chief even reiterated her demand for the imposition of President’s rule in the state.
“If the state government is unable to control the situation then in the interest of the people it should relinquish power. Otherwise we again request the Governor to recommend President rule,” Mayawati said.
Family of Badaun rape victims want justice, not compensation. Our party wants to help them get that justice, she said while addressing a press conference in Lucknow. Mayawati said that Centre should also take an initiative in this direction, otherwise the people of the state would not forgive BJP along with the SP.
“Only transferring and suspending officers will not improve the situation. They have to tighten the noose around their own party people,” she said.
While referring to SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s statement on capital punishment in rape cases, the BSP supremo alleged, “It is the result of extending wrong support to save rape accused that his own partymen are committing such incidents in which the police is also involved.”
She said a speedy inquiry should be conducted in the matter and the accused should be given “harsh punishment and hanged”. The two girls, who were cousins and aged 14 and 15, went missing from their house on the night of May 27 and their bodies were found hanging from a mango tree in the village in Ushait area on May 28.
The postmortem report of the two girls confirmed that they were raped before murder. Children caught on camera working at helipad in Badaun for Mayawati’s visit: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati’s visit to Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh was on Sunday hit by another row after children were seen working at the helipad.
The row intensified when former UP minister and senior BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui claimed the children were playing and had not been employed at the site of helipad. “BSP is accountable, administration should look into it,” Badaun MP and Samajwadi Party leader Dharmendra Yadav said.
-INDIA TODAY
