BJP MPs raise Kotkhai case with Rajnath, attack Himachal govt

Accusing the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh of being "insensitive" towards women, a delegation of BJP MPs today urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh to immediately order a CBI probe into Kotkhai minor girl rape and murder case.
The BJP MPs raised the issue at a meeting with Singh on a day a mob ransacked Kotkhai police station in Shimla district and pelted the policemen with stones after a Nepalese labourer arrested in the rape and murder case was killed allegedly by another accused in the lock-up late last night.
The BJP delegation urged the Home Minister to direct the state government to ensure that law and order is maintained and also provide an atmosphere where young girls and women could live with pride and dignity.

The MPs said that the state government has already recommended a CBI probe into the case and the Centre should immediately accept the request and ensure that the investigation is started in the matter.
The delegation comprised Health Minister JP Nadda, Anurag Thakur, Shanta Kumar, Virender Kashyap and Ram Swaroop Sharma, besides state BJP president Satinder Satti.
They told the Home Minister about the brutal rape and murder of the Class X girl in Kotkhai area which has sparked strong protests from people in the state.

They claimed the ordinary people, mainly women and young girls, felt unsafe and insecure due to "virtual collapse" of the law and order machinery and the failure of law enforcement agencies to arrest the criminals behind the act.

"Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has failed to provide justice to he girl who was raped and killed in Kotkhai. The chief minister should answer why he put out pictures of the accused on his facebook page and then deleted them within minutes. Is he trying to protect the guilty," Thakur asked.
The Hamirpur MP also said that this is not the first case of its kind as women do not feel safe in the state and the chief minister has failed to protect them.
He said last month a forest official in Mandi was killed and his body was found hanging from a tree, but no action has so far been taken against the accused.

Thakur also raised the issue in Parliament saying the entire nation came together in the fight for justice to Nirbhaya, the December 2012 rape victim, and the accused were punished, but it did not stop the recurrence of such cases as a similar incident took place in Kotkhai on July 4.
"It was under pressure from different organizations that police claimed to have cracked the case and posted the photographs of alleged culprits on the Facebook page of the Chief Minister of HP and after a few minutes these were deleted," he said, adding that it raises suspicion that efforts were being made to shield the real culprits.

Thakur said Congress MPs did not let him speak in the Lok Sabha and "this only goes to show the insensitivity of the Congress leaders towards the daughters of our nation."
Kashyap also demanded imposition of President's rule in Himachal in view of the "complete failure" of law and order in the state and said the recent happenings were strong grounds to dismiss the Congress government there.