Soon after taking oath as deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, BharatiyaJanata Party leader Kavinder Gupta said Monday the gruesome gang-rape and murder of the eight-year-old child of Kathua was a small incident that didn’t deserve much importance.
“This is a small matter,” Gupta, the former Speaker of the state legislature told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony here, referring to the sickening incident in Rasana village of Kathua district that caused global outrage and condemnation.
“An incident like this should never happen again, and we should think about getting justice to the girl (Kathua victim).”
If this was not insensitive enough, the BJP leader went further to compare the rape and murder of a child with regular challenges the state government faces all the time.
“The government keeps facing numerous such challenges. I feel the amount of importance we give to Rasana (rape and murder incident) is not right,” the newly sworn-in Dy CM said, speaking in Hindi.
Faced with a barrage of criticism over his first remarks after taking over as deputy to chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, the BJP leader soon attempted to explain what he meant.
“Kathua issue is subjudice, and I want that the culprits get punishment,” Gupta said, clarifying what he meant by his earlier statement.
“I said there are other issues also and we should keep faith in judiciary and incidents like Kathua should not happen again.”
Gupta also denied reports that his party enacted the reshuffle as a face saving exercise after a backlash over support of BJP ministers and other leaders to the accused in the Kathua case.
“Its routine practice, party gave me the responsibility to bring in change after three years. I’ll try my best to meet expectations of people and work for Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,” Gupta said earlier before he was sworn in as deputy CM.