Bhopal: Former chief minister Babulal Gaur visited the residence of Bhopal gang rape victim in Vidisha on Monday evening and talked to her and her mother. Without taking names, Gaur sniped at the chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. “When I was the chief minister, I used to meet every victim of heinous crimes,” he said.
Gaur said that as home minister he used to make it point to meet the families, which were victims of dacoity, murder, abduction or any other serious crime. Earlier in the day, AAP state president Alok Agarwal and Delhi labour minister Gopal Rai also met the victim. Rai later said that the incident was condemnable but what happened after it was horrifying. He said that the way the police made the victim and her father run from one police station to another for filing an FIR was a telling comment on the state’s law and order situation.
Rai said that the AAP will submit a memorandum to the National Commission for Women in Delhi and will demand, among other things, registration of criminal cases against officials who took victim’s complaint lightly. Meanwhile, the top BJP and Congress party leaders have yet to find time to meet the victim. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who represents Vidisha parliamentary constituency, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, leader of opposition in Vidhan Sabha Ajay Singh, home minister Bhupendra Singh Thakur, PCC chief Arun Yadav and state BJP President Nandkumar Chouhan are among those who have not cared to meet the victim or her family.
Congress MPs Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath, who are in the race for becoming the chief ministerial face of the Congress, have not done anything beyond issuing statements. Except Swaraj, all the leaders are busy with Chitrakoot bye-elections. They are giving bytes to TV channels on the issue but have not talked to the victim or her family on phone.
