AAP slams Centre over Uber cab rape case, women's security

Launching a scathing attack against the Centre, the Aam Aadmi Party today said the government was "insensitive" to the issue of women's security, after a 27-year-old woman was allegedly raped by a cab driver.

The party, whose workers staged protests outside Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence and Lt Governor's House over the issue, said there was "systematic failure" in the case and instead of giving an explanation, Singh merely read out an SHO report in Parliament today.

"The Home Minister did not give any assurance in Parliament. He also did not say anything on steps being taken by the government to ensure that this kind of incident does not occur again. He also fell short of taking moral responsibility for the incident and acknowledging the failure of the government in ensuring security for women in capital city," senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said.

He said the driver was a repeat offender and was issued a character certificate by the Delhi Police in May this year.

"The government has acted irresponsibly on the matter. In a knee-jerk reaction, the government has banned the services of Uber, but it is yet to fix accountability of the officials who were responsible for background check of the driver involved in the incident.

"Media has also reported that the Delhi Police officials had issued a character certificate to accused Shiv Kumar Yadav despite him being a repeat offender. It is intriguing how Delhi police did not check his past criminal record before issuing a character certificate," Yadav said.

AAP also demanded that the government must hold those police officials accountable and punish them.

Delhi Police Commissioner has termed the certificate as fake and ordered an inquiry into it.

Yadav said after the Nirbhaya incident, Singh, who was then the BJP president, had tweeted saying 'Centre and the Delhi government to blame for rapes in Delhi'.
"Sarkar badalti hain, Nizam badalte hain, par halat nahi. (Governments change but things dont)," he said.

Earlier in the day, the party protested outside the residence of Singh, Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and also held a silent protest at Jantar Mantar. Its volunteers were also detained at the Parliament Street police station.

"Instead of looking into the security of women, the police has detained our volunteers since morning. It has shown no basic courtesy of even offering water. There was a volunteer who had six-month-old infant. Even she was not allowed to step out for a few minutes," Yadav said.

Rubbishing allegations that the party was politicising the issue, Yadav said AAP wanted to bring all issues related to people on a political platform to seek solution to issues.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh said the government and the Home Minister also owe an explanation on what the government has done for women security in past six months.

"What clearly shows Modi government's insensitivity towards the issue is the fact that the government has decided to discontinue the women-only taxi service 'Sakha', which was started after the Nirbhaya incident.

"Not just that, the government has also scrapped Rs 200 crore One Stop Crisis Centre for women in distress, conceived after Nirbhaya case," Singh said.