A political slugfest has erupted over the alleged rape of a 6-year-old Dalit girl from Bihar. The minor was raped in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district and her father is a migrant labourer. BJP leaders have raised questions on Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi's silence on the shocking incident. The leaders also targeted Bihar opposition CM face Tejashwi Yadav for ignoring the incident while he demanded justice for the Hathras gangrape victim.

The BJP hit out at the Congress on Saturday and asked Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra why had they not paid a visit to the family of the victim yet.


Nirmala Sithraman lashes out at Congress

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam also said in a press conference that if Gandhis really cared for a gangrape victim they could have raised the issue at least in their tweets. "Rahul Gandhi is ready to speak on every matter but when the time comes to look upon their own government why is he silent? Why no tweet?", said Nirmala Sitharaman.

Nirmala Sitharaman lashed out at the Gandhis. “A 6-year-old child of a Dalit migrant labourer from Bihar is raped, killed and body half-burnt in Hoshiarpur (Punjab) and it doesn't shake the conscience of the brother and sister who rush to every other place which can help them politically,” she said.


Prakash Javadekar targets Congress for remaining silent

Union minister and BJP leader Prakash Javadekar accused Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi of going on a “political tour” to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, where a Dalit girl was allegedly gang-raped and who died later, as he questioned the lack of a similar reaction from the two leaders to crimes against women in Punjab and Rajasthan, which are ruled by the Congress.


They go to these places for “photo-op”, Javadekar said, referring to the Congress leaders’ visit to Hathras in the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. “A six-year-old girl coming from a Dalit migrant family from Bihar was raped and murdered in Punjab’s Tanda. Former Union minister Vijay Sampla from our party met the family. Nobody from the Congress met them.”


“They (the Gandhis) cannot see atrocities against women in the states where it (Congress) is in power. Neither Rahul Gandhi nor Priyanka went there and nor was there any comment from its president, Sonia Gandhi,” Javadekar told reporters in New Delhi.


"Neither Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi nor Priyanka Gandhi visited the family of the victim in Tanda. They do not pay heed to the injustice done to women in the states ruled by their party, but visit Hathras and other places for photo-op with the victim's family," he added.

The rape incident

The six-year-old girl was allegedly raped, killed, and then set on fire, with her half-burnt body found at a home in Tanda’s Jalalpur village, police said on Thursday.


The accused, Gurpreet Singh and his grandfather Surjit Singh, have been arrested on the charges of murder, rape, and under other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, according to reports.