NEW DELHI: Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have spoken out over the alleged gang rape and murder of a teenage girl in Delhi, with both questioning the authorities over women’s safety and demanding accountability for the incident.Rahul Gandhi, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, criticised the Delhi Police and questioned the responsibility of Union home minister Amit Shah, under whose ministry the force functions. He said the teenager was gang-raped and murdered before her body was dumped in an open field, and questioned how the police remained unaware of the crime for days.In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi described the incident as a “horrific act of brutality” in the national capital. He also dismissed the idea that Delhi was providing women with a safe environment, saying the city had instead become a source of fear for women.“It’s unfortunate that Delhi is no longer the capital today; it has become a terrifying daily story for women,” he said.Rahul directly questioned Shah over the responsibility for women’s safety in Delhi. He pointed out that the Delhi Police is under the Union home ministry and asked who should ultimately be held responsible for the safety of women in the capital.“Amit Shah ji, Delhi Police is under your control. Ultimately, whose responsibility is women’s safety?” he said.He also criticised the functioning of the Delhi Police, asking whether its role had been reduced to intimidating ordinary citizens while criminals continued to operate without fear.“Or has the job of Delhi Police been reduced to just intimidating and threatening ordinary citizens? Because the criminals are roaming around fearlessly,” Gandhi said.Calling for immediate action, the Congress leader demanded that those responsible for the crime be arrested and punished strictly. He also sought accountability for what he described as criminal negligence.“The beasts must be arrested immediately, strict action and punishment must be taken, and accountability for this criminal negligence must be fixed,” he said.Rahul Gandhi ended his post by linking women’s safety to India’s wider progress, saying, “India cannot move forward without women’s safety.”Priyanka Gandhi also raised concerns over the case, saying the crime against the teenager represented an extreme form of brutality. She noted that another minor girl had allegedly been raped just days earlier and questioned whether authorities were taking sufficient responsibility for women’s safety.“In Delhi, all limits of cruelty were crossed against a 17-year-old girl, and after that, she was brutally murdered. Just a few days earlier, another minor girl was raped,” she said in a post on X.Priyanka Gandhi further questioned the government’s response to crimes against women. She argued that while there was discussion about women’s development, women continued to face violence without what she described as concrete action against perpetrators.“No one in the country is willing to take responsibility for women’s safety—only empty talk about women’s development is offered,” she said.She claimed that hundreds of women face atrocities and violence and alleged that victims can struggle to get action from authorities, including the registration of FIRs.“Hundreds of women face atrocities and violence, but they cannot hope for concrete action against the perpetrators—FIRs aren’t even filed,” she said.Priyanka Gandhi also said the issue went beyond the individual case and reflected a wider failure to ensure women’s basic rights. She argued that both society and the government had failed to provide women with adequate safety, freedom and equality.“Both society and the government have completely failed in granting women their rights to safety, freedom, and equality,” she said.
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What happened in Delhi case
A teenage girl was allegedly gang-raped and murdered in Delhi. Her body was subsequently dumped in an open field, with the police facing questions over the delay in detecting the crime.The case has triggered political criticism over women’s safety in the capital, with Rahul Gandhi focusing on the Delhi Police’s role and its accountability to the Union home ministry.Priyanka Gandhi also referred to another case involving a minor girl that was reported days before the teenager’s rape and murder. She used the two incidents to question the wider response to crimes against women.
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