KL Report
Srinagar
It was an embarrassing moment for Congress spokesperson Ms Renuka Choudhary on Wednesday when she was offering party reaction to the brutal gang-rape of a young girl in a Delhi bus. A scribe asked her why the party skipped reacting with same anger when politicians including from Congress were accused by CBI of rapes in Kashmir in the sensational 2005 sleze racket.
“There was no response and the press conference was declared over,” a reporter who attended the news conference said. Later the spokesperson was heard telling the questioner that “that (2005 case) was a different case.”
Ms Choudhary condemned the brutal rape of the girl in a Delhi bus and suggested that the rapists should get the maximum punishment under law. She even suggested that the government must consider introducing chemical castration as an option to treat the sex offenders as is happening in a number of Western and European countries. Besides, she suggested that the victims should be protected and the witnesses should get absolute protection so that the accused are brought to book.
It was at this point that a scribe asked Ms Choudhary over its failure in managing the 2005 sleaze racket in which high and mighty in the state including politicians were accused of misusing positions and raping women. Though the investigation was launched by the Congress Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, the scribe asked that in the follow up the case was shifted out to a court in Punjab where the accused were acquitted.
The question created a situation of pin drop silence for a few moments and the press conference was declared over. Afterwards, the former minister was seen talking to the reporter trying to convey these were two different cases. Two former Congress ministers were formally arrested as the CBI had indicted that there were a few more in the shame list.
The hours-long gang-rape and near-fatal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi has triggered outrage across India, especially Delhi. Even Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has termed the brutal act as “deeply disturbing”. Now all the political parties are seeking severe punishment to the rapists and a clean and clear system that will reduce such occurrence and help the society to fight the menace better. Ms Choudhary was addressing the new conference to offer Congress response to the brutal event.
