SRINAGAR: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday criticised the government over women’s safety, saying the priority given to cow protection should instead be directed towards preventing sexual violence.
Her remarks came after a 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh was allegedly gang-raped inside a bus while travelling from Greater Noida to Delhi earlier this month. Two men, the driver and conductor of the bus, have been arrested in connection with the case.
“In BJP’s India, cow protection has become a higher priority than women’s safety,” Mehbooba said in a post on X.
She said people had been lynched by mobs on mere suspicion of cow slaughter, while convicted rapists continued to receive parole and patronage.
“If even half the energy devoted to vigilantism in the name of cows were invested in safeguarding women, India would be a far safer place for every daughter, sister and mother,” she said.
In BJP’s India, cow protection has become a higher priority than women’s safety.
On mere suspicion of cow slaughter, people have been lynched to death by mobs. Yet, when it comes to protecting women from rape, sexual violence and brutality, the convicted rapists not only enjoy…— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) August 31, 2026
The 16-year-old Class 11 student was allegedly raped on the night of August 4 after she boarded a bus near Pari Chowk, believing it would take her to Noida Sector 63.
Police said the bus was not operating as a regular passenger service and had been taken to a workshop in Surajpur for repairs. The accused allegedly threatened the girl with death if she resisted and later abandoned her at Kashmere Gate.
The girl then reached a police station in an auto-rickshaw. A medical examination confirmed rape, police said.
The accused, identified as driver Kuldeep, 39, and conductor Sandeep, 26, were arrested from a parking lot in north Delhi’s Timarpur on the same night, according to police.
Investigators are examining CCTV footage and forensic evidence to reconstruct the bus’s nearly 43-kilometre journey from Greater Noida to Kashmere Gate.
The case has drawn comparisons with the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder in Delhi, in which a woman was sexually assaulted inside a moving bus.
Further investigation is underway.
