The “entire House” condemned the setting ablaze of a woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao, Rajya Sabha chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Thursday, after stating that the State Chief Secretary had informed him that the perpetrators had been arrested.
After the Opposition disrupted proceedings, leading to a brief adjournment, the Chairperson allowed the members to raise their concerns about the crime. Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav said that when such incidents happen, it was a matter of shame for all, not just the government in power. He demanded that strict punishment be handed out to those responsible so as to act as a deterrent.
Vandana Chavan of the Nationalist Congress Party said victims of sexual assaults should be given security by the State.
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“The VIPs probably don’t need it. It is these rape victims, our daughters, our girls who really need it,” she said.
BJP member Kanta Kardam said the issue was not a political one and “our government and our party condemn the incident.”
Mr. Naidu then said: “The entire House condemns the incident.” He said that after Ms. Chavan and Samajwadi Party member Jaya Bachchan informed him of the incident, he called the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to find out what had happened.
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“He has explained to me that some incident happened like this in the early hours of today morning, around 4.30 a.m. Then, by the time, I reached here, he reported back to me, saying that the persons have been arrested. What is needed is not mere arrest in any case. As everybody said, we must send out a signal to the entire country, to the society, that on such incidents, action should be taken promptly, swiftly, adequately so that similar things do not recur,” Mr. Naidu said.