Ashok Gehlot holds Centre accountable on repercussions over 'law to hang rape accused'

 Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that after the law to hang the rape accused came into force, the incidents of murder after rape have increased across the country.

The Chief Minister made this statement on Friday in Delhi during the demonstration by Congress against the Central government over price rise and unemployment.

He further said that "after the Nirbhaya case, the demand to hang the accused gained momentum and after that, the law came into force. Since then, there has been an increase in the cases of murder of women after rape."

"Due to the law on the hanging of culprits after the Nirbhaya case, the incidents of murder after rape have increased. This is a dangerous trend being seen in the country," said Rajasthan CM.

Gehlot claimed that the trend of murder after rape has reached an alarming level across the country.

"The rapist feels that the victim will become a witness against the accused. In such a situation, the accused finds it right to kill the victim. The reports that are coming from all over the country show a very dangerous trend. The situation in the country is not good," he added.

Last year, senior Karnataka Congress leader and former Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, who made a sexist and unsavoury comment on rape in the state Assembly created uproar in the country, with many demanding his sacking as an MLA and protesting in the state Assembly.

Speaking in the Assembly, Kumar had said, "There is a saying that when rape is inevitable, lie down and enjoy it. That is exactly the position in which you are."

Earlier, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav had questioned the death sentence of rapists and said it was unfair to award the death penalty to rapists for their mistakes.

"Rape ke liye phaansi dena ghalat hai, ladkon se ghalti ho jaati hai, hum satta mein aaye to kanoon mein badlav karenge (Handing death sentence for rape is not fair... boys make mistakes... there will be changes in the law if we come to power)," Singh had said.

The four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case were hanged to death in Delhi's Tihar jail on March 20, 2020, bringing down the curtains on the drama surrounding the execution that saw the death warrants cancelled thrice on various grounds.

The four convicts, along with two others including Ram Singh and a juvenile, had raped and brutally tortured a 23-year-old paramedic student on a moving bus in south Delhi on the night of December 16, 2012. The victim died a few days later after battling for life at a Singapore hospital.

She was earlier admitted to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital.

The case had created an uproar across the country, especially in Delhi where a large number of people came out on the streets, demanding justice for the victim, who was renamed as 'Nirbhaya' or the fearless.

(ANI)

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