Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday joined the protest at Jantar Mantar against the alleged gang-rape and murder of a woman in Hathras, and demanded strictest punishment for the accused while asserting that politics should not be done over the issue.
Kejriwal, who joined the protest for the first time since he became chief minister for the third time, said this is a fight for justice for the victim’s family.
“There should be no politics over this issue. Such a crime should not have happened in any state of the country. No matter where it happens, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, or any city, Bangalore, Kolkata, or Delhi, the victim will always be one of India”s daughters,” he said while addressing the protesters.
Kejriwal said the entire country wants that the accused should get the strictest punishment.
“Few people feel that attempts are being made to shield the accused. That should not happen. They should get strict punishment. The family needs help and sympathy.. The family should not be troubled,” he added.
Kejriwal was joined by party MLAs Atishi and Somnath Bharti and AAP functionary Durgesh Pathak and minister Rajender Pal Gautam at the protest, attended by civil society activists, students, women and members of various political outfits.
The body of the 19-year-old Dalit woman, who died in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, a fortnight after she was gang-raped, was cremated in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, in the early hours of Wednesday, with her family alleging that the local police forced them to conduct the last rites in the dead of the night.
Local police officers, however, had said the cremation was carried out “as per the wishes of the family.
