'Pb govt acted swiftly in Hoshiarpur case in contrast to UP govt in Hathras incident'

Patiala: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday asserted that his government had taken swift action in the Hoshiarpur rape-murder case in sharp contrast to the Uttar Pradesh government's response to the Hathras incident.

He said the challan in this case will be presented in court this week.

The chief minister pointed out that prompt action had been taken by the Punjab Police and the accused had been caught without delay, unlike in the Hathras incident.

"That was why Rahul Gandhi had to rush to Hathras, to secure justice for the victim's family, and did not need to visit Hoshiarpur," he said while interacting informally with media persons here.

On Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's remarks on "selective outrage", he reiterated that had the Punjab government or police failed to respond with swiftness in the Hoshiarpur case, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and others would have reacted the same way as they did in the case of Hathras.

The CM on Saturday had hit out at BJP leaders Nirmala Sitharaman and Prakash Javadekar for their comments over the Hoshiarpur rape-murder case, dubbing their remarks as "political puffery" with no substance or basis to support their criticism.

The BJP had attacked the Congress on Saturday over alleged rape and killing of a six-year-old girl in Hoshiarpur, as it asked opposition party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra why had they not paid a visit to the family of the victim yet.

A six-year-old girl was allegedly raped, killed and then set on fire. Her half-burnt body was found at a house in a village in Tanda in Hoshiarpur on Wednesday.

Gurpreet Singh and his grandfather Surjit Singh were arrested on charges of murder, rape and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, police had said on Thursday.