After two of the three accused in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) gangrape case, who were linked with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as IT cell workers, got bail, the Uttar Pradesh government came under severe criticism from the Opposition parties with leaders describing the ‘bail’ as condemnable and worrisome. They asked the BJP to clarify whether its workers have been given special exemption and freedom to commit rape in the Prime Minister’s parliamentary constituency.
“The news of two of the three accused in the BHU gang rape case, who worked as BJP IT cell officials, getting bail is both condemnable and worrisome. The question is who was pressuring to take on the rapists in a weak manner in court. It is a shameful thing demoralising the daughters of the country that not only these rapists have come out but there are also reports that as per BJP tradition, they have been welcomed with garlands,” said Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.
He added, “the BJP should clarify whether BJP workers have been given special exemption and freedom to commit rape in the country’s ‘prime parliamentary’ constituency,”.
Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai alleged that the government presented weak arguments in court and claimed that the justice to daughters cannot be imagined under the BJP regime. “The culprits of the IIT-BHU student got bail from the court because this double engine government, which creates trouble for the public, presented very weak arguments against them in the court. Under this regime, the safety and justice of our daughters cannot even be imagined. The only guarantee of the safety of our daughters is to oust them from the government,”
Nearly two months after a woman student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), BHU was allegedly disrobed and molested inside the campus, three accused, believed to be BJP workers of Varanasi unit, identified as Kunal Pandey, Anand alias Abhishek Chauhan and Saksham Patel, were arrested by the Varanasi police in December 2023.
