Congress’ Surendra Rajput criticise Maharashtra govt over Badlapur “encounter”

New Delhi [India], September 24 (ANI): Congress Surendra Rajput slammed the Maharashtra government on Tuesday over the “encounter” of rape accused in Badlapur, saying the administration has “failed miserably.”

Speaking to ANI, Rajput drew parallels between Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra regarding the police encounters and said that the Maharashtra government “cannot do anything.”

“See, it is very clear that Uttar Pradesh is in the same condition as Maharashtra today, where the accused are firing bullets at the police and the police have become answerable. The government of Maharashtra has failed miserably if the accused dared to fire at the police. The public is watching everything, and they know that the current government of Maharashtra is not capable of anything. The time will change everything, the Maharashtra government cannot do anything,” Rajput said.

The alleged sexual assault of two fourth-grade girls at a school in Maharashtra’s Badlapur had sparked outrage. On August 17, police arrested an attendant of the school in connection with the incident. However, the accused died on September 23 in retaliatory firing after he snatched a gun from a police officer and opened fire at him.

Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar earlier demanded a judicial probe in the matter, while state Congress chief Nana Patole questioned whether the “encounter” was done to save trustees of the school who have not been arrested so far.

CPI-M leader Subhashini Ali alleged that the accused was murdered and accused the Maharashtra government of “saving” the accused in similar cases.

“The public needs to understand what the BJP does when there is a rape in their ruling area. It took three to four days for the police to file a case against the accused. The school in which the incident took place belongs to the RSS, and the people who run the school are BJP affiliated. If the people had not protested on the streets, then the case would not have been filed,” she said.

“The accused who was sitting in the police’s car fired at the police and this is very similar to the Uttar Pradesh encounter. The accused was murdered and not shot. The behaviour of the Maharashtra government shows that they just save the rape accused and keep the victims very far away from justice. This is understandable that they have been trying to protect the accused,” Ali added.

However, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged that while Maharashtra and Badlapur heaved a sigh of relief, the INDIA bloc was mourning the death of a rapist.

“The accused person in the Badlapur sexual assault was shot by the police. On one hand, while Maharashtra and Badlapur have taken a sigh of relief, on the other hand, parties of the INDI alliance are mourning his death. Is this a ‘balatkari bachao alliance’? In the RG Kar case, they tried to save the accused, protecting the accused Moeed Khan in the Ayodhya rape case. Some leaders of the Congress party and INDI alliance have started speaking in favour of rapists. They have stopped speaking in favour of the police and the public. This is shameful,” Poonawalla said in a self-recorded video.