BJP demands resignation of Ashok Gehlot over Alwar gangrape

New Delhi, May 12: The BJP on Sunday alleged "failure" of law and order in Rajasthan in the wake of the Alwar gangrape incident and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

"We condemn the incident of rape of a Dalit woman recently and other cases of violence," Union minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters at a press conference. However, there was no immediate reaction from the Congress. The BJP leader alleged that the Alwar gangrape incident was "kept a secret" in the wake of voting in Rajasthan on May 6.

Javadekar also alleged that besides the gangrape incident in Alwar, other cases of rape were also reported elsewhere in Rajasthan, which saw polling in two phases on April 29 and May 6. The minister claimed that in the last four months of the Congress government in Rajasthan "46 cases of rape have occurred and 27 cases of atrocities against Dalits, rape or otherwise". We therefore demand resignation of Gehlot, he said alleging "failure" of law and order in the state.

"We are condemning the Rajasthan rape incident of a Dalit woman, which was first kept a secret just because there was voting on May 6," he alleged.

The rape had provoked protests across Rajasthan after the victim's husband alleged that the police did not act quickly because of the elections. He claimed the woman was raped on April 26 and the police informed on April 30, but the FIR was filed only May 7.

PTI