Gang rape of IIT-BHU student: Congress workers to gherao PM Modi's Varanasi constituency office
Shahjahanpur (UP) (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai said party workers would gherao Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency office in Varanasi on Tuesday to protest against the alleged involvement of the BJP's local leaders in the gang-rape of a BHU student.
Two months after the woman student was allegedly gang-raped inside the IIT-BHU campus, police arrested three men on Sunday and opposition parties alleged that they were BJP functionaries. The three accused claimed themselves to be the BJP's IT cell members on their Facebook page.
"Women and children are being raped in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To tell the general public how incidents like rape are being carried out under their patronage, our Banaras district and city unit will gherao the prime minister's Varanasi office on Tuesday," Rai said on Monday.
He claimed that Kunal Pandey, the convenor of BJP's IT cell in Varanasi, its working committee member Abhishek Chauhan and co-convenor Saksham Patel were sent to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections so that they could not be arrested.
"Had they been arrested before the elections, the message would have gone to the entire country that these three BJP officials are rapists," the Congess' Uttar Pradesh unit chief said, adding that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should tell when bulldozers will run on the houses of these accused.
He alleged, "The BJP is a party of rapists. In this, there are rapist leaders like Kuldeep Sengar and Swami Chinmayanand. The BJP is working to save rapists."
The gang rape took place on the night of November 1. Following the incident, hundreds of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) students held a protest on the campus and demanded that the entry of outsiders be banned.
According to the complainant, she had gone out of her hostel with a friend on the night of November 1. They were near the Karman Baba temple when three men came there on a motorcycle, forcibly took her to a corner and gagged her after separating her from her friend.
The accused then allegedly stripped the woman, made a video of her and clicked photos. They let her go after about 15 minutes and took her phone number, the complainant stated.
Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and under provisions of the Information Technology Act at Lanka police station.
Subsequently, the charge of gang rape was added to the FIR, police said. Three people -- Kunal Pandey, Anand alias Abhishek Chauhan, and Saksham Patel -- have been arrested in the case.
Opposition parties targeted the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government over the law and order situation in the state and alleged that those arrested in the case have links with the ruling BJP.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said in a post on X that those arrested for gang-raping the woman student are part of a new crop of BJP workers thriving under the patronage of senior leaders.
ABVP state media coordinator Abhinav Mishra, in a statement however, demanded that police file a charge sheet in the case at the earliest and also take action against those who protected the accused for two months. The ABVP also called on the BHU administration to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of everyone on the campus.
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IAF to hold 2-day wargame along frontier with Pakistan: NOTAM issued
New Delhi, May 6 (PTI): The Indian Air Force will carry out a two-day mega military exercise along the border with Pakistan from Wednesday that will involve all the frontline fighter jets including Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar aircraft, sources in the defence establishment said on Tuesday.
The exercise is taking place amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
India's civil aviation authorities have already issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) for the major air exercise that will largely take place along the southern and western section of the Indo-Pakistan border.
India's frontline fighter jets including the Rafale, Su-30 MKI, MiG-29, Mirage-2000, Tejas and AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft are set to feature in the exercise, the sources said.
In the course of the exercise, the IAF will simulate enemy targets on ground and in the air with deadly precision, they said.
The militaries of both India and Pakistan are on a high alert following rising tensions between the two nations.
Soon after the Pahalgam terror attack, India, citing "cross-border linkages" to the strike, promised severe punishment to those involved in it.
In a high-level meeting with the top defence brass on April 29, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the armed forces have "complete operational freedom" to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India's response to the terror attack.
Air Chief Marshal A P Singh met Prime Minister Modi on Sunday and the Chief of Air Staff briefed him about the IAF's operational readiness.
On Saturday, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi apprised the prime minister on the overall situation in the critical sea lanes in the Arabian Sea.
