Rajender Singh made remarks during rally on Sunday supporting Kathua rape accused; brother Lal Singh, who resigned over the issue, led Sunday’s event.
New Delhi: A day after former Jammu and Kashmir forest minister Choudhary Lal Singh led a rally in Jammu, to protest the “hurt” caused to the Dogra community by the arrest of the Kathua rape accused, shocking footage from the rally emerged on social media Monday, in which, Lal Singh’s brother, Rajender Singh, is heard hurling expletives at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
Lal Singh, who had to resign in April after taking part in a rally supporting the rape accused, led Sunday’s event from Lakhanpur to Kootah, which is close to Rasana village, where the eight-year-old Bakerwal girl was abducted, brutally gang-raped and killed.
The footage shows Rajender Singh, also known as Babbi in the region, standing amid protesters holding the Tricolour as he repeatedly refers to the state’s first woman chief minister as a “b***h”. Singh, who is speaking through a microphone, is heard saying: “Mehbooba kutti, sada beyda gark karita, sada desh lootliya, Modi bhi phasa liya (Mehbooba b***h has troubled us, the b***h ruined our nation and also trapped Prime Minister Narendra Modi).”
Despite several attempts, Babbi could not be reached on his phone.
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah was quick to condemn the video saying that it was “absolutely unacceptable”. “This is absolutely unacceptable language used against @MehboobaMufti and is unequivocally condemned with request that @JmuKMrPolice file an FIR against this abusive individual (sic)” he tweeted.
Lal Singh was among the two BJP ministers, the other being the then commerce minister Chander Prakash Ganga, who were forced to resign when their participation in a Hindu Ekta Manch rally, in support of the Kathua rape case accused, caused a massive uproar.
Singh has since not let up on his demand that the case be shifted to the CBI and has led rallies backing it. On Monday, he told ThePrint that there will be clarity in the case only if it is handed over to the CBI… “We also want justice for the child who was raped. But we were portrayed as pro-rapists and that is why so many people came in support of the rally to demand justice and shifting of the case to the CBI,” he said.
He, however, disconnected the phone when asked about the viral video and did not answer it again, despite repeated attempts to reach him.
An FIR has been lodged against Rajender under section 509 of the RPC (insulting the modesty of a woman) and under sections of the IT Act.