Rajya Sabha condemns setting afire of Unnao rape survivor

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday unanimously condemned the setting afire of a rape survivor from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh with chairman M Venkaiah Naidu saying "we must send out a signal" to the entire country that on such incidents, action should be taken promptly, swiftly, adequately so that similar things do not recur. The Upper House of Parliament took up a discussion on the incident in the afternoon after proceedings were adjourned for half-an-hour amid an uproar by opposition parties, mainly the Congress.

Summing up the discussion, Naidu said, "The entire House condemns the incident.... I got in touch with the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh...to know the fact. He has explained to me that some incident happened like this in the early hours of today morning, around 4.30 am." "The persons have been arrested. What is needed is not mere arrest in any case. As everybody said, we must send out a signal to the entire country, to the society, that on such incidents, action should be taken promptly, swiftly, adequately so that similar things do not recur," he added.

He also said, "I am not allowing a general discussion now and we will close it here with a caution to all concerned to act immediately, swiftly, and also with an appeal to the society to isolate such people and stand by the victims, and also stand by the administration whenever they take immediate action and bring pressure on the persons concerned that they cannot get away with such incidents and all." The rape survivor from Unnao was battling for life with 90 per cent burns after five men, including two of the accused, allegedly set her on fire while she was on her way to court, police said.

One of the two men accused of raping her last year was granted bail 10 days back. The other man had been on the run. All the five men involved in the Thursday morning attack were arrested within hours and the Uttar Pradesh government flew the victim to Delhi for treatment.

The woman said in a statement that she was on her way from her village in Unnao district to Rae Bareli where the trial is going on when she was attacked. As soon as the House resumed in the afternoon to consider the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Opposition parties raised the matter and demanded a discussion.

Congress leader Anand Sharma urged Deputy Chairman Harivansh to at least listen to the opposition members who wanted a discussion. The deputy chairman did not pay any heed to the opposition members and asked K K Ragesh of the CPI(M) to move a resolution to disapprove the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019, promulgated on September 20, 2019.

The bill and the resolution were scheduled to be moved and discussed together. While the opposition members kept on raising the issue loudly, the deputy chairman asked Ragesh to proceed with the resolution.

Ragesh replied that he could not move the resolution and asked him to bring the House to order. The deputy chairman then adjourned the House for half-an-hour.

When the House reassembled, Naidu in the Chair said that Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party had raised the issue in the morning and allowed a discussion. Yadav demanded deterrent punishment for the guilty and all those people who were responsible for this incident.

He said this should set an example so that the officials concerned should not make such mistake in future. Yadav said he was not blaming any state government but he was perturbed by the recent observation of the Supreme Court about his state (Uttar Pradesh).

Vandana Chavan of the NCP said, "The incident is the worst where a girl, a rape victim, going to court has been burnt alive. What can be worse than this? Women have to be safeguarded." "I make an earnest request to you that wherever the victim is under such threat, she, and, in fact, all the victims have to be provided with security. The VIPs probably don't need it (security). It is these rape victims, our daughters, our girls who really need it," she added.

Viplove Thakur of the Congress and Kanta Kardam of the BJP also participated in the brief discussion on the issue and condemned it.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)