Congress Spokesperson Resigns As Minister Defending Kathua Rapists Is Allowed In Bharat Jodo Yatra

Congress leader and 2018 Kathua rape case lawyer has resigned. She said that a former minister who defended rapists of the young Kathua girl should not be allowed to take part in Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Deepika Pushkar Nath (L) resigned from Congress after Lal Singh said he would join the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu. (Image source: Facebook @deepika.singhrajawat and @thechlalsingh)

xLawyer and Congress member Deepika Pushkar Nath has announced her resignation from the party after former minister Lal Singh purportedly got permission to participate in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu & Kashmir later this week. Nath was at the forefront of a campaign to seek justice for an eight-year-old Kathua child, who was gang-raped and murdered in 2018.

Advocate Deepika Pushkar Nath announced her resignation from the Congress in a series of tweets, stating that former minister Lal Singh defended the rapists of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua and divided the entire region of Jammu & Kashmir to protect them. "In view of Ch. Lal Singh's proposal of joining @bharatjodo & @INCJammuKashmir and allowing the same, I am left with no other option but to resign from @INCIndia. Lal Singh was responsible for sabotaging the Kathua rape case in 2018 by brazenly defending rapists," Nath tweeted.

https://twitter.com/DeepikaSRajawat/status/1615342145384378368

Nath, who also served as a spokesperson for the J&K unit of Congress, said that Lal Singh's proposal of joining of Bharat Jodo Yatra was ideologically opposite to her actions and beliefs. She added that on ideological grounds, she could not share the party platform with someone who defended rapists. 

Lal Singh and Chandra Prakash Ganga were forced to resign from the Mehbooba Mufti Cabinet in April 2018 for their participation in a rally in support of the Kathua rapists.

After his ouster from the cabinet, Singh led a massive campaign to seek a CBI probe into the Kathua rape and murder case, claiming a conspiracy was afoot to defame the Dogra community.

J&K police had then registered an FIR against Lal Singh's brother for using abusive language against then Chief Minster Mehbooba Mufti during a rally in Kathua.

The eight-year-old girl from Rasana village of Kathua was kidnapped and raped in captivity in January 2018. She was kept sedated for four days before being bludgeoned to death.

(With inputs from Asif Qureshi.)