Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav criticised Opposition parties and accused them of “tutoring” the two survivors of a gangrape in Bulandshahr last Friday. The Samajwadi Party leader said, “What are BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and other people telling the victims inside the room, you should also look into it...what are they telling the victims...if they want CBI probe I am willing for it...I am ready to help them out.”

Earlier, minister Azam Khan had alleged the gangrape was part of a conspiracy against the state government. Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are scheduled to be held next year.

A woman and her teenage daughter were gangraped near a highway close to Bulandshahr late last Friday, and police reportedly took hours to reach the scene of the crime. After the incident, the local police have said the emergency helpline does not work. The rape survivors and their family had said they called 100, an emergency helpline number, several times and received no response.

On Thursday, the Allahabad High Court directed a petitioner in the gangrape case to file details regarding alleged irregularities in the police investigation by Friday.

The assault took place when a family was travelling to Shahjahanpur to attend their relative's funeral and had set off from Sector 68 at midnight. A highway gang of robbers surrounded their car and forced all of them into a nearby field. There, they sexually assaulted the woman and the 15-year-old girl. The assailants carried out the attack barely 100 metres from a police post.