Supreme Court has slammed Samajwadi Party minister Azam Khan for his remark on the Bulandshahr highway gangrape. The SP leader said that the gangrape could be a political conspiracy to defame the Uttar Pradesh government. The apex court has issued notice to UP government and Azam Khan, asking them on what basis do they claim that the gangrape was an attempt to defame the government. Supreme Court has also stayed the CBI probe into the Bulandshahr gangrape case.
The 14-year-old girl who was gang-raped near a highway in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr had moved the Supreme Court seeking police complaint against minister Azam Khan for his outrageous comments. Azam Khan had bizarrely called the rape an "opposition conspiracy", as a group of BJP leaders headed to Ghaziabad to meet the family. "Government must check whether this is an attempt by the opposition to defame the government, by people who want to come to power. That is how low politics has stooped to, anything is possible." said Azam Khan commenting on the highway gang rape.
Reacting to Supreme Court's notice, Azam Khan said that he did not mean to offend the rape victim. "All I said was that punishment for rape should be strict", he added.
The notice issued by the Supreme Court has put UP minister Azam Khan and Samajwadi Party in trouble for making irresponsible and insensitive comments in the gang rape case.
Reacting to the Supreme Court's order and defending his party, SP leader Gaurav Bhatia said, "There was a categorical stand taken by the party and that it does not relate to the comments made by the leader, and even the leader clarified later that he did not mean to cause pain to the victim."
The Samajwadi Party leader has also been criticized by his rivals and activists for the insensitive remark. "The comments made by Azam Khan were deplorable. There is no one is Samajwadi Part to correct him. I am glad that SC has taken notice." said BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain.
"Azam Khan's comment was insensitive and must have caused pain to the victim. The government has always tried to shun all charges by calling them political conspiracies and this is the reason why the state is in such a condition." said BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur.
This was, however not the first time that a leader from the SP, or for that matter any political party, has made such an outrageous remark on rape.
Azam Khan's boss and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had crossed all limits during the campaign for the 2014 general elections when he said, "Boys make mistakes. They should not be hanged for this. We will revoke the anti-rape laws." When it comes to insensitive remarks, Yadav's son and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav too wasn't far behind his party colleagues.
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