Goa rape: Smriti Irani to enquire about case status

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice president Smriti Irani said Wednesday she would take up with the Goa government the case of a minor rape victim, who is awaiting justice for the last four months as the accused is yet to be arrested.

"I will enquire about it and find out the status (of the case)," Irani said while responding to a question as to why the BJP government in the state failed to nab the culprit despite forming a special investigating team to crack the case.

The seven-year-old girl was raped by an unknown person in the toilet of a school run by the Mormugao Port Trust in January.

The school's headmistress and other staffers have already been arrested for the delay in reporting the crime to police and destroying evidence by washing the victim's private parts and the toilet in which the rape took place.

On the law and order situation in the state, Irani, who was made the BJP's in-charge of Goa ahead of the 2014 general elections, said as far as crimes against women were concerned the situation was same throughout the country.

"At least here the police and administration is responding well to these incidents," Irani said.