Congress demands Gohain's ouster as Minister over rape charges
New Delhi, Aug 11 : The Congress on Friday demanded dismissal of Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain as a case of rape was registered against him in Guwahati.
"(Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji, you have failed the test not once, not twice, not thrice, but almost a dozen times. Again there is a rape FIR against one of your Cabinet colleagues, Gohain," Congress leader Pawan Khera said addressing a press conference here.
He said that if PM Modi does not act now, then he would lose the moral authority to stay in the office even for a day.
"Remove him from his office. You can't allow him to be in a position of power and influence during the investigation. Please remove him if you meant anything that you promised before 2014," he said.
"We demand from this government, from Modi, from (BJP President) Amit Shah to take immediate and strict action against rape accused Minister Gohain," he said.
The Congress leader's remarks came after a woman in Assam filed a case of rape with the Assam Police against Gohain.
Referring to the cases of rape in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were allegedly involved, Khera mentioned the case of Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh and said: "We saw you were standing with the rapists of Unnao."
Khera was referring to BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Senger, who has been charged for rape by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The Congress leader also questioned Modi's silence on the Muzaffarpur shelter home rapes. "Your own government is there in alliance with (Bihar Chief Minister) Nitish Kumarji."
Khera also questioned Modi's silence over his party's state ministers coming out in support of the rape accused in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua.
Slamming Modi, he said: "Last week, we saw reports from Deoria, from Pratapgarh, and again you remained quiet."
"These are the same people who used provocative and emotionally charged slogans to woo the people of the country before 2014. And now, their Cabinet ministers are being charged with sexual assault and rapes, yet they maintain silence and action is hardly taken against those involved in such cases," Khera added.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
