No one will be spared: PM

NEW DELHI: Breaking his silence on the Unnao and Kathua rape cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those who commit crimes against women would not be spared.

"Incidents being discussed since past two days cannot be part of a civilised society. As a country, as a society, we all are ashamed of it. I want to assure the country that no culprit will be spared; complete justice will be done. Our daughters will definitely get justice," PM Modi said during the inauguration of Dr Ambedkar National Memorial here.

The Prime Minister said the people of the country need to work together to rid the society of the evil of rape and sexual violence against women. For this, he said, change should begin with the family by inculcating social values in the children.

"When a daughter comes home late, we're quick to ask them where they have been. But when a son returns late at night, we should ask them the same question," he said.

Earlier on Friday,Congress president Rahul Gandhi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his silence on violence against women and children, saying it was "unacceptable" and India was waiting for him to speak up.

In a related development, two BJP ministers who defended the men arrested for raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua quit from their posts on Friday evening after the Mehbooba Mufti government put its foot down, telling the BJP leadership that their continuation in the government had become untenable.

Industries Minister Chandra Prakash Ganga and Forest Minister Lal Singh had addressed a rally in support of the accused by a group called the Hindu Ekta Manch in March.

Earlier on Friday, facing flak over Kathua and Unnao rape cases, the BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi defended the two Jammu and Kashmir ministers of the party, who had joined a rally against the police probe in the Kathua rape and murder case, claiming that they were "misled" into attending the protest.

In a press conference, Lekhi also accused the opposition parties of doing dangerous politics over these incidents.

Disturbed over the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in the Jammu region, Union minister Maneka Gandhi has asked her department to work on a proposal to amend the POCSO law to bring in the provision of death penalty for the rape of a minor below the age of 12 years.

The Women and Children Development (WCD) minister has now proposed that rape of any child below the age of 12 years could lead to the death penalty, WCD officials said.

Also breaking her silence on two rape cases that have shaken India, Union minister Smriti Irani on Friday said stern action would be taken against those found guilty in the Unnao rape case, in which a BJP MLA is the accused, and condemned what she said were efforts to "politicise" such cases.

"The law and the administration will work according to the Constitution, and senior persons in the BJP have appealed in this regard. Some people want to politicise such incidents, but as a woman, I believe, and I request that victim-shaming should not be done," she said, responding to reporters' questions on the Unnao case here.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said: "The victims' family should get justice," the minister told reporters when asked about the case. See inside