Have not said anything against Bulandshahr victims: Azam Khan

Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan, who courted controversy with his alleged remarks on the Bulandshahr rape case, on Monday, maintained that he had not said anything against the victims and their family members.

His reaction came hours after the Supreme Court sought his and the SP government's response on a plea to shift the probe and trial in the case out of the state due to "distrust".

"I welcome what the Supreme Court said on Monday. I have never said anything against the victims and their family members...I have said if four or five similar crimes are committed on a single day, there could be a conspiracy behind it," he told reporters here.

The Samajwadi Party leader said he had always advocated that Islamic laws should be made applicable to rape cases and punishment should be meted out within a week.

"Why is BJP worried? If the conspiracy is exposed, we can take more stringent action," he said.

An SC bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan took note of the alleged controversial statement of the UP Urban Development Minister, who had said that the Bulandshahr incident was a "political conspiracy".

The court framed several constitutional questions including whether a person, holding public office, can give a statement which may create "distrust" in the minds of the victims about a fair probe in the case and whether such a statement can be a part of freedom of speech and expression.

The man, whose wife and daughter were gang raped last month on a highway in Bulandshahr, had on August 13 moved the apex court seeking transfer of the case to Delhi, besides lodging of an FIR against Khan as well as several policemen.

The brutal incident had happened on the night of July 29 when a group of highway robbers stopped the car of a Noida-based family and sexually assaulted the woman and her daughter after dragging them out of the vehicle which had four other occupants.