Rajya Sabha condemns Unnao rape survivor incident amid low attendance in the House

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday condemned the incident of setting on fire the rape survivor in Unnao and called for stringent actions against the culprits.

The discussion took place amid low attendance with several benches empty.

In the post-lunch session, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said, he has talked to the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh to get the details of the incident.

Naidu said, there is a need to send out a signal that such heinous crime against women will not be accepted and there should be swift actions against the perpetrators.

The Vice-President also expressed unhappiness over poor attendance during parliamentary committees meeting. "It is very strange to find that out of 80 members only 18 members attended, he said.

Earlier, Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party (SP) expressed anguish over the incident saying, this is the responsibility of the government to provide adequate security to the rape victims.

Viplove Thakur of Congress said, "This incident is a stigma on the society and there is a need to think where society is heading." She said law and order situation has deteriorated in Uttar Pradesh.

Vandana Chavan of the NCP said, there is a need to safeguard women in the country. It is not the VIPs but the women who need security.

The house witnessed two adjournments over the Unnao incident. In the morning session, when the House met for the day, Congress and other Opposition parties' members raised the issue leading to adjournment of the house till noon.

In the post-lunch session, the members from Congress, SP, NCP, TMC, and others again created an uproar over the issue and subsequently the house was adjourned till 2.37 P.M.

The Upper House was adjourned during the Zero Hour after Congress wanted a discussion on the incident, following which the House was adjourned for an hour till 12 noon.

As the matter was not listed, Naidu declined for deliberations over the issue demanded by the Congress party members. However the Opposition members persisted with their demand for discussion, so Naidu adjourned the house.

The 23-year-old woman, who survived a brutal, was on set ablaze in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao by the accused.