Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Thursday called out Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP over the rape of a three-year-old girl in a private school and the gangrape of a woman in a moving bus in Delhi, saying the slogans of “Beti Bachao” and “Nari Vandan” rang hollow as women and children remained unsafe in the capital.
The AAP Rajya Sabha MP questioned the silence of the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, LG and Police Commissioner over the incidents, and noted that AAP leaders, including Saurabh Bharadwaj, were dragged away and detained when they went to seek answers from the LG over bail being granted to the accused in the POCSO case. Sanjay Singh said he would write to the LG seeking a meeting and asserted that the party would not remain silent on the matter.
Addressing a press conference at the AAP headquarters on Thursday along with Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj and MLA Kuldeep Kumar, AAP senior leader and MP Sanjay Singh said, “The responsibility for law and order in the national capital rests with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor.” He said that on April 30, an incident took place in the capital that shamed humanity.
Sanjay Singh said, “A mother dropped her three-year-old daughter at a private school in Janakpuri believing that the child would receive an education there.” However, he said, the child’s class teacher took her to the basement, where a school caretaker identified as Lalit Kumar raped the child in the teacher’s presence.
Sanjay Singh highlighted the child returned home covered in blood and when the mother learned what had happened, she went to the police station, but the SHO made them sit there for hours. “When the mother approached the police to complain about the rape of her daughter, the Delhi Police under Amit Shah and the LG detained both the mother and child at the police station,” he said.
“According to the mother, the DCP pressured the family in an attempt to suppress the matter,” Sanjay Singh noted, and said that after great difficulty, an FIR was registered on May 1, but within five days the accused secured bail. “Can the country imagine that in a POCSO case, the accused was granted bail within five days? That accused is now roaming freely,” he said.
The senior AAP leader further said that when the Aam Aadmi Party raised its voice against the incident, the LG, whom Amit Shah and PM Modi have entrusted with Delhi’s security, had no time to meet them. “The Delhi Police Commissioner also had no time to meet them. These officials forget that they receive salaries from public money every month. Listening to the people’s problems is their responsibility and not a favour,” he stated.
He further said that when Saurabh Bharadwaj went to ask the LG and police officials how bail had been granted in a POCSO case, he was dragged away and detained. “The LG may have us beaten with batons or send us to jail, we have no problem with that. But PM Modi and Amit Shah ji should explain how demanding justice for a three-year-old girl has become a crime,” he noted.
Sanjay Singh said that the BJP’s claims across the country about “Nari Vandan” and women’s safety are nothing but theatrics. “This is the reality of their claims of women’s safety. A three-year-old child is not safe even inside a school,” he said. He added that he would write to the Delhi LG on Thursday seeking an appointment and would meet him with a delegation to present their concerns regarding the case.
“Whether or not he gives us time, the party will decide the next course of action. But it is not possible that such a grave incident happens to a three-year-old girl inside a school and the Aam Aadmi Party remains silent,” he asserted.
Sanjay Singh further highlighted that another horrifying incident had also emerged in Delhi, referring to the gangrape of a woman inside a moving bus, which he described as a recurrence of the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder. He said the bus kept moving for two hours while the woman was gangraped inside it.
“This is the state of security in the national capital and this is the reality of women’s and girls’ safety,” he said. He stated that whenever protests are held or voices raised over such incidents, the police respond with batons, dragging and beatings. “Delhi is increasingly becoming a hub of crimes against women and their safety was being torn apart,” he said, and added that the BJP government at the Centre, the LG and the Delhi Police Commissioner must answer on this serious issue.
Sanjay Singh concluded by reiterating that the most serious question was how the accused in a POCSO case managed to secure bail within five days. He stated that information was emerging suggesting that the accused, the school and its management had links with a senior BJP leader and were receiving protection from influential political figures. “BJP leaders should work towards taking action against such people rather than protecting them,” he emphasised.
