JOIN USEven as Haryana Chief Minister B S Hooda did not spare time until Tuesday to visit the aggrieved family of a teenage dalit girl who committed suicide immolating herself after being raped by her neighbours last week, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday went to the family’s village house at Khera expressing solidarity and promising justice.
Later, at the end of a 15-minute meeting with the girl’s family, Sonia Gandhi conceded that cases of rape were on the rise in all states, including Haryana, and stringent measures were a must to curb crime against women.
The UPA chairperson said the perpetrators of the crime deserved the severest punishment. Gandhi was flanked by Hooda, Union minister Kumari Selja and some state ministers.
Of late, Haryana has earned the dubious notoriety of a state with high incidents of rape cases.
Even as 13 rape cases have been reported in the last month or so from various parts of the state, Haryana Congress president Phool Chand Mulana’s reaction to such incidents, terming it a conspiracy of sorts, has been appalling.
While Sonia preferred not to comment on Hooda’s alleged indifference towards the incidents even on being specifically asked, the visit of the AICC president is being seen as a strong signal to the state government to act firmly to curb atrocities against women. Ironically, Haryana got reports of another rape and molestation cases as the Congress chief visited the state.