MP BJP chief sees Pak hand in rape case, invites criticism

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh BJP president Nand Kumar Singh Chouhan saw a cross-border conspiracy in the horrific gangrape and murder of a minor girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir with a design to stir communal cauldron in the Valley.

Militants backed by Pakistan might be involved in the “heinous” crime to drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir, he told the media on the sidelines of BJP’s fast at Khandwa in MP on Thursday.

Mr Chohan said his suspicion was based on the premise that Hindus would never chant “Jai Shri Ram” after committing such a crime.

“Hindus comprise less than one per cent of Kashmir population. Helpless Hindus live in perpetual fear in Kashmir and they cannot even dare to speak. How can they raise Jai Shri Ram slogans there,” he remarked.

Whatever was happening in Kashmir was being scripted in Pakistan and hence Pakistani agents might be behind the incident, he said.

He, however, condemned the incident, describing it a “blot on humanity”.

“Rapists have no religion,” he said.

Unfazed over the ridicules he had invited for making an “insensitive” comment from several quarters, he reiterated on Friday, “I stand by my remarks that Hindus can never chant Jai Shri Ram after committing such heinous” crime.”

His remarks have, however, left many shell shocked.

“For God’s sake, don’t give religious colour to the barbaric incident. Seeing a foreign in such a horrific crime is really shocking and incomprehensible,” a professor in Barkatullah University here told this newspaper.

The Opposition Congress on Friday ridiculed Mr Chouhan’s statement.