Bharatiya Janata Party’s MLA from Uttar Pradesh Surendra Singh on Saturday said that the parents of young women must inculcate good values in them to stop incidents of rape, ANI reported. His remark came amid nationwide outrage over the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman from the state’s Hathras district, after four upper caste Thakur men raped and tortured her.

“Such incidents can be stopped only with sanskar [culture and values] and not with shashan [governance] or talwar [sword],” Singh, who is an MLA from the state’s Ballia district said.

Singh added that it was the duty of the parents to instil good values in their children. “The government’s job is to protect the people but it is also the responsibility of parents to teach children polite behaviour and manners,” he said. “Our country can become beautiful with the combination of sanskar and sarkar [government].”

Singh has made controversial statements in the past too. He had said in November that Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, was not a terrorist but an individual who committed a “mistake”.

The Hathras case

The Adityanath-led UP government is facing immense criticism over its handling of the Hathras gangrape case. Four upper caste Thakur men gangraped and tortured the 20-year-old woman on September 14, and she died in New Delhi on September 29. The woman was hastily cremated on Wednesday midnight, without allowing her family to perform the last rites.

Amid shock and anger over the UP government and the police’s conduct, Adityanath on Saturday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the case.

Earlier in the day, Congress leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi along with three other party MP met the woman’s the family.

On Friday, Adityanath suspended Hathras Superintendent of Police Vikrant Vir and four other police officers. Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, several leaders of his Aam Aadmi Party and Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad joined hundreds of people at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi to protest against the gangrape and death of the 20-year-old Dalit woman.

On Thursday, the the Allahabad High Court took suo motu cognisance of the Hathras gangrape case and directed top government officials and the police to appear before it on October 12. The judges said that the case had shocked their conscience.

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  2. Now, PR agency pushes Adityanath government line that Hathras woman was not raped
  3. Top 10 Hathras case updates: Adityanath hands over probe to CBI; Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi visit town
  4. Three steps India should take to ensure that rape survivors actually get justice