Agencies/Our Bureau Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday broke his silence over the rape and murder of a minor in Jammu and Kashmir and the rape of a teenager in Uttar Pradesh, saying justice will be done to the victims and no culprit will be allowed to escape.

“The incidents that are in discussion in the country for the last two days do not reflect good for any civilised country. This is shameful.

“It’s an insult to the freedom fighters who gave their lives for the Independence of this country. We are all ashamed as a society, as a country,” Modi said after a nationwide outrage over the incidents in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua and Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.

“Such incidents in any part of the country or a state shake our humanity. I want to assure the country that no culprit will escape. Justice will be done and it will be complete justice. The daughters will get justice. We all will have to join and remove this evil from the society.”

He was speaking at the inauguration of Ambedkar National Memorial at Alipur Road here.

Congress slams Modi

Earlier on Friday, the Congress, which held a massive protest rally at the India Gate lawns on Thursday midnight, demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak up against the crimes towards women. Party President Rahul Gandhi said Modi’s silence is unacceptable and he thanked the people for participating in the candlelight vigil without any notice. The party had demanded that the BJP sack Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for his “inability” to check crimes against women.

“Mr Prime Minister, your silence is unacceptable. 1. What do YOU think about the growing violence against women and children? Why are accused rapists and murderers protected by the state?” the Amethi MP tweeted. “India is waiting,” he added.

The party’s main demand is to take action against the culprits behind the rape and murder an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir. In another case, in Unnao, the father of a rape victim was killed in police custody. A BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar is an accused in the case.

The Congress alleged that the collective conscience of the nation has shaken, but nothing seem to shake the conscience of Modi. “Where are the tweets/reactions from the women leadership of the BJP, which in past have been vociferously hitting the keypads, using social media to take on the Congress-UPA Government, when it came to highlight violence against women?” asked Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi.

“Where is Sushma Swaraj? Where is Smriti Irani? Where are other prominent women leaders of the BJP who were sloganeering on atrocities against women during the UPA? Now some of them are giving us homilies of not to politicise these things,” he added.

He claimed that crime against women have increased in the past four years to pathetic proportions. “Be it the Unnao rape case or the brutality on the 8-year-old in Kathua or the recent rape of a 6-year-old in Sasaram, Bihar – every single crime has pointed fingers to active involvement of one single entity — the BJP,” he said.

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