<p class="title">Protesters stepped up demands on Tuesday for India's ruling party to sack a state lawmaker accused by a young woman of raping her, holding several demonstrations just days after the accuser was critically injured in a highway collision.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Opposition groups say Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is protecting Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a legislator from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, whom the woman accused of the rape in 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Why do we give people like Kuldeep Sengar the strength and protection of political power and abandon their victims to battle for their lives alone?" Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of the main opposition Congress party, asked on Twitter.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She called on Modi to immediately sack Sengar, named on Monday in a report to police, who are investigating a car crash at the weekend that has left the victim battling for her life.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sengar denies the charges, but the case has put the spotlight on the crime situation in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Its chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu monk-turned-politician, has said law and order in the state has improved since his party took power in 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A party spokesman in the state, Rakesh Tripathi, said a disciplinary panel suspended Sengar last year and asked for his explanation. "He has not been sacked yet because the charges haven't been proven," Tripathi added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Mayawati, a former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and leader of a major regional political party, said the ruling BJP was protecting Sengar and asked India's Supreme Court to intervene.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Congress party workers staged a demonstration in the state capital of Lucknow, where the victim is in hospital. "My daughter is critical, there is no improvement in her condition," her mother said on Tuesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dozens of opposition lawmakers protested outside India's parliament, holding placards with slogans such as "India Ashamed #Unnao", referring to the site of the crime. Elsewhere in the Indian capital, women and students' groups also held protests.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Modi, who has repeatedly cited women's issues as a priority for his government, including schemes to promote education and hygiene, has been silent on the case. </p>
<p class="title">Protesters stepped up demands on Tuesday for India's ruling party to sack a state lawmaker accused by a young woman of raping her, holding several demonstrations just days after the accuser was critically injured in a highway collision.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Opposition groups say Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is protecting Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a legislator from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, whom the woman accused of the rape in 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Why do we give people like Kuldeep Sengar the strength and protection of political power and abandon their victims to battle for their lives alone?" Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of the main opposition Congress party, asked on Twitter.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She called on Modi to immediately sack Sengar, named on Monday in a report to police, who are investigating a car crash at the weekend that has left the victim battling for her life.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sengar denies the charges, but the case has put the spotlight on the crime situation in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Its chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu monk-turned-politician, has said law and order in the state has improved since his party took power in 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A party spokesman in the state, Rakesh Tripathi, said a disciplinary panel suspended Sengar last year and asked for his explanation. "He has not been sacked yet because the charges haven't been proven," Tripathi added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Mayawati, a former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and leader of a major regional political party, said the ruling BJP was protecting Sengar and asked India's Supreme Court to intervene.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Congress party workers staged a demonstration in the state capital of Lucknow, where the victim is in hospital. "My daughter is critical, there is no improvement in her condition," her mother said on Tuesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dozens of opposition lawmakers protested outside India's parliament, holding placards with slogans such as "India Ashamed #Unnao", referring to the site of the crime. Elsewhere in the Indian capital, women and students' groups also held protests.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Modi, who has repeatedly cited women's issues as a priority for his government, including schemes to promote education and hygiene, has been silent on the case. </p>