Azam Khan unfazed by Supreme Court notice, stands by his comments

UP minister Azam Khan said on Monday that he stands by his statement on the Bulandshahr rape case.

Talking to reporters, hours after the Supreme Court termed his remarks as “objectionable and insensitive”, Mr Khan said, “I stand by whatever I said about the Bulandshahr rape case and will continue to do so in future as well. As a part of the government, I see it as my duty to address such incidents and demand immediate and stringent action against those involv-ed in such heinous crimes.”

Mr Khan, it may be recalled, had termed the Bulandshahr highway loot and rape case as a “political conspiracy”.

Taking a serious view on Mr Khan’s statement, the Supreme Court sought his response in three weeks and in the meanwhile stayed all investigation by the state police on the FIR registered on the incident.

The apex court, while hearing a plea of rape victim’s father, called his statement objectionable and insensitive.

When questioned about his reference to a criminal conspiracy behind the rape incident, Mr Khan said, “Had there not been a conspiracy then why would have only one political party taken exception to my comment I never said that the accused should be spared”.

He further said he welcomes the directives of the Supreme Court on the incident and sought speedy justice for the victims and strict action against the accused.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and S. Nagappan passed an order enlarging the scope of the writ petition filed by Kaushal Kishor, whose wife and daughter were gang raped, demanding a CBI probe into the gruesome incident on the national highway. The bench appointed senior counsel and eminent lawyer Fali Nariman to render assistance in this case as four important issues had arisen for consideration.

Counsel Kislay Pandey along with counsel Manju Sharma, submitted that the petitioner was disillusioned about the process of fair investigation in the state of Uttar Pradesh because of various developments and, more so, with regard to the public addresses made by Azam Khan. The case, therefore, needs to be transferred to CBI and to another state. The petitioner also prayed for registration of an FIR against Azam Khan for his utterances.