Kopardi rape: Munde hits out at 'delayed' media coverage

Mumbai, Jul 19: Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council, Dhananjay Munde today accused media of "ignoring" the brutal gangrape-cum-murder of a minor girl in Ahmednagar district even though the 'rape' analogy of Bollywood actor Salman Khan hogged the limelight.

"Media ignored the incident for the first two to three days and gave it no coverage. If Salman Khan says something on rape, it immediately becomes breaking news.

But, this girl was not as famous as Salman. Which may be (the reason) why the media initially did not give coverage to it (the incident)," he said in the Upper House during a debate on the Kopardi gangrape-cum-murder incident.

A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed by three men at Kopardi village in Karjat taluka in Ahmednagar district last week.

The incident had sparked a massive outrage. Munde said like the media, none of the elected representatives from the region, including ministers, besides police officers or district collector spoke a word on the incident for the first two days.

BJP minister Ram Shinde represents Karjat-Jamkhed Assembly constituency in Ahmednagar district as an MLA.

Munde also attacked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for not visiting the family of the deceased. "When we mistakenly showed a cabinet minister's photo with a person who we thought was an accused, the CM was quick to rebut us with the correct picture of the accused.

If he had shown same swiftness in visiting the family of the victim, he would have been appreciated," the NCP leader said.

Munde challenged the government to complete the trial in the case within four months and to ensure that the accused get capital punishment.

"Only then will we believe that you (the BJP) have the courage to run this government," he said.

Fadnavis had yesterday told the Legislative Assembly that the case will be heard in a fast track court.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Narayan Rane, who also took part in the discussion, said that by showing the pictures of the accused, Fadnavis has violated the provisions of the Evidence Act.

PTI