New Delhi: Pressure is mounting on the Bharatiya Janata Party as a woman who has alleged she was sexually assaulted by Union Minister of State Nihal Chand three years ago, has called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove him from the Cabinet.
The Mahila Congress will be staging a protest against Nihal Chand at the BJP headquarters in Delhi on Wednesday. "Nihal Chand must resign on moral grounds. As minister he can influence the probe. Modi promised security for women during polls, we want to ask him is this the zero tolerance that he was talking about? We demand security for the woman as she is being threatened now," said Mahila Congress President Shobha Oza.
"Prime Minister Modi promised zero tolerance against ministers accused of such crimes. If that is true, then why is Nihal Chand still in the Cabinet," asked Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar.
Addressing a press conference, the woman had said she will try to meet Modi and request him to remove Nihal Chand from his Cabinet and get her justice. "They have tried to offer money and a job to silence me. I request the police to give me protection and the opportunity to meet PM Narendra Modi so I can give him my side of the story," the survivor said.
The case goes back to 2011, when the woman claimed she was sexually abused and exploited by 17 people including Nihal Chand. All 17 have been issued a notice by a Jaipur court.
Nihal Chand is the Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers in the Modi government.
The National Commission for Women had also said that it will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding dismissal of Union minister Nihal Chand after his name came up in the alleged rape case. "This is really unacceptable. Even when a minister commits a heinous crime like rape, the punishment meted out to him should be the same as that for a commoner," NCW Chairperson Mamta Sharma had said.
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