Gujarat Congress stages protest against rape-murder of 6-year-old in Dahod

Gujarat Congress on Thursday staged a protest against the "worsening law and order situation" in BJP-ruled Gujarat in the wake of the brutal murder of a six-year-old girl student by the principal of a government school in the tribal-dominated district of Dahod.

Congress leaders and workers took out a padyatra from the state Congress office at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan to the statue of Swami Vivekananda near the Town Hall and protested against the "sleeping" BJP government. The accused principal is a member of the RSS, alleged the main Opposition party.

The accused Govind Nat was arrested on 22 September. The Gujarat Congress has asserted that Nat is associated with the RSS-BJP. Photographs of him at events organised by the RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, as well as with former BJP minister Arjunsinh Chauhan, went viral on Wednesday.

"In Dahod, Gujarat, the principal of a school tried to rape a 6-year-old girl and when the girl started crying and screaming, the devil principal strangled her to death. The principal who committed this heinous act of rape is an RSS propagator following BJP ideology. Criminal acts against women and children are increasing day by day. The law and order situation in the state is worrying," Gujarat Congress posted on X.

Gujarat Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil lambasted the state government on Wednesday for failing to protect children and women in the state. “This is the most corrupt and inefficient government that cannot protect even a six-year-old child in a government school,” Gohil said during a press conference at the AICC headquarters in Delhi. "What can one expect from this administration that has repeatedly failed to protect women and children," he added.

So far, the ruling party BJP has not responded to the incident.

The graphic details of the crime came to light following the arrest and subsequent questioning of the school principal.

Dahod superintendent of police Rajdeepsinh Zala said the girl was suffocated to death and her body dumped in the school’s compound. The girl’s mother told the police that she would go to school with the principal every day, and that she had dropped her off to be picked up by Nat on her final day as well, according to police.

The principal had tried to rape the minor in the car, said police. She was choked to death when she resisted, the police added. Nat has been charged under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.