Seeking justice under BJP's 'double engine' government a crime: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday attacked the BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh over the incident of two girls hanging themselves, saying that it's a crime to seek justice in these states.

On 28 February, two girls were found hanging from a tree in a field days after they were allegedly raped. The girls were found near the brick kiln they worked at, in a village in the Ghatampur area of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

"Understand the 'dual injustice' happening under Narendra Modi's 'double-engine' governments from these two incidents! In UP, two sisters hanged themselves after they were raped. Now, after failing to get justice and (under) pressure to withdraw the case, their father also hanged himself," Gandhi wrote in a post in Hindi on X.

"In MP, a woman was robbed of her dignity. Her poor husband pleaded for justice and hanged himself along with his two children when he did not get it," he added.

"Seeking justice under the 'double engine' government is a crime," the Congress MP said, a reference to the BJP's use of the phrase 'double engine' to describe governments in BJP-ruled states or Union territories which form a 'double' with the BJP government at the Centre.

Gandhi also alleged that "treating not just the victims, but even their families, as enemies has become a tradition in BJP-ruled states", and said the party is being aided in projecting this "false image" painstakingly created by "friendly media".

He said the families of sexual attack victims in Hathras and Unnao, as well as Mandsaur and Pauri, keep asking for justice. "Raise your voice against this terrible injustice, or else this fire will reach you too — if not today, then tomorrow," Gandhi said, using the hashtag #NaariNyay.

His sister and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also hit out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the issue of crimes against women. "Being a woman has become a crime in this jungle raj," she said.

According to additional CP (law and order) Harish Chandra in Kanpur, the girls' family members alleged that they were raped by Ramroop Nishad (48), the contractor of the brick kiln, his son Raju (18), and nephew Sanjay (19). All three have been arrested, he had said earlier.

According to the families, the three also made a video of the act to blackmail the girls — aged 16 and 14 — because of which they hanged themselves.

On 6 March, Gandhi had posted a tweet on the alleged rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in BJP-ruled Puducherry, leading to the arrest of four people. "The brutality against a nine-year-old in Puducherry has shaken the nation. Why are crimes against our daughters continuously on the rise?" he asked in his post.

"In 2022 alone, 4.5 lakh criminal acts were reported against women, of which 31,000 were of rape. Be it Ankita Bhandari's family protesting on the streets in Uttarakhand, or the husband who hanged himself along with his children after not getting justice for his wife in Madhya Pradesh, or the Spanish tourist who became a victim of gangrape in Jharkhand. Every such incident is a reflection of an insensitive system and a cruel society, which is a matter of introspection for us as a nation," he added.