Congress slams action against UP leader for slapping BJP worker over 'rape threats'
The Congress on Monday slammed the action taken against Indian Youth Congress leader Roshni Kushal Jaiswal and her family. Roshni had allegedly slapped a BJP worker in Varanasi over “rape threats” issued by him to her on social media.
“What kind of justice is this, where the victim is being harassed?”, All India Mahila Congress chief Alka Lamba said during a press conference here.
Lamba, who was accompanied by Haryana MLA Vinesh Phogat, questioned the decision to jail Jaiswal's husband and brother.
Lamba said the actions exposed the hollowness of the slogan “Beti Bachao, Beti Padao” given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Roshni Jaiswal is facing injustice in Modi's own constituency, Varanasi,” Lamba pointed out.
Following Jaiswal and her family's altercation with BJP worker Rajesh Singh on September 15, the latter's wife filed a police complaint over the alleged assault.
The BJP said the law treats everyone equally and no one had the right to take the law into their hands. Jaiswal's property was attached following a court order in view of her absence from the proceedings, the BJP said.
“Does the police administration want a woman to silently bear the threat of rape?” Lamba asked, sharing a video of Jaiswal in which she recounted her experience of facing online threats and the subsequent action by authorities in the case.
In the video, Jaiswal said, “I am the same Roshni Kushal Jaiswal who slapped Rajesh Singh, a BJP supporter, who had threatened to rape me on September 15.”
After this, a case was registered against her under several sections, including 307, after which she had been missing for 40 days, her husband and brother have been in jail and a court has ordered her property to be attached, she said.
“Was it so wrong to slap the person who threatened to rape that my family was destroyed?” she asked in the video.
“I want to request every woman with folded hands that if you are facing rape threats, do not raise your voice. Tell your husband and family members to wear bangles. If they raise their voice, they will go to jail,” Jaiswal said in the video.