Girl’s death latest flashpoint in Jharkhand political slugfest | India News
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RANCHI: Security forces marched through the streets of Jharkhand’s Dumka on Monday to douse the flames of a potentially violent backlash over the death of a Class XII girl who had been set ablaze by a stalker while she was asleep, shifting the focus of the battle raging between the JMM-led coalition and the opposition from CM Hemant Soren’s office-of-profit case to an alleged law-and-order breakdown.
Protesters and politicians alike, including state health minister Banna Gupta of Congress, demanded capital punishment to the suspect arrested for the murder of Ankitawho battled 90% burns for six days before succumbing to her injuries in Ranchi on Sunday. Shahrukh, the prime accused, allegedly emptied a can of kerosene on her late Tuesday and burned her alive for spurning his advances, police said.
DSP (rural) Vijay Kumar said Shahrukh’s alleged accomplice, identified as Naeem, had been detained.
Governor Ramesh Bais, who has been ostensibly sitting on the Election Commission’s much-speculated recommendation to disqualify Soren for allegedly holding a mining lease while in office, questioned the state of law and order in Jharkhand, saying citizens weren’t feeling safe anymore.“I had instructed the DGP (Niraj Sinha) to take certain measures. But nothing seems to have improved,” he said. He said he had spoken to the girl’s parents and announced Rs 2 lakh as ex gratia. Late Monday, Soren announced Rs 10 lakh in compensation to Ankita’s family.
Opposition BJP accused the Soren government of ‘appeasement’, besides failure to maintain law and order. “The DSP was trying to protect the accused initially as he belongs to a particular community. Action must be taken against him,” said ex-CM and BJP legislature party chief Babulal Marandi.
State BJP chief Deepak Prakash questioned why none from the JMM-led coalition had met the family yet. BJP’s Kapil Mishra said he would begin a crowd-funding drive to raise funds for the girl’s kin. While promising a speedy probe and trial, health minister Gupta accused BJP of trying to give the crime a communal colour. “Crimes don’t have any religion. But bringing religion into everything is in BJP’s DNA,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ankita’s octogenarian grandfather lit her pyre on the bank of the Mayurakshi river on Monday morning.
Protesters and politicians alike, including state health minister Banna Gupta of Congress, demanded capital punishment to the suspect arrested for the murder of Ankitawho battled 90% burns for six days before succumbing to her injuries in Ranchi on Sunday. Shahrukh, the prime accused, allegedly emptied a can of kerosene on her late Tuesday and burned her alive for spurning his advances, police said.
DSP (rural) Vijay Kumar said Shahrukh’s alleged accomplice, identified as Naeem, had been detained.
Governor Ramesh Bais, who has been ostensibly sitting on the Election Commission’s much-speculated recommendation to disqualify Soren for allegedly holding a mining lease while in office, questioned the state of law and order in Jharkhand, saying citizens weren’t feeling safe anymore.“I had instructed the DGP (Niraj Sinha) to take certain measures. But nothing seems to have improved,” he said. He said he had spoken to the girl’s parents and announced Rs 2 lakh as ex gratia. Late Monday, Soren announced Rs 10 lakh in compensation to Ankita’s family.
Opposition BJP accused the Soren government of ‘appeasement’, besides failure to maintain law and order. “The DSP was trying to protect the accused initially as he belongs to a particular community. Action must be taken against him,” said ex-CM and BJP legislature party chief Babulal Marandi.
State BJP chief Deepak Prakash questioned why none from the JMM-led coalition had met the family yet. BJP’s Kapil Mishra said he would begin a crowd-funding drive to raise funds for the girl’s kin. While promising a speedy probe and trial, health minister Gupta accused BJP of trying to give the crime a communal colour. “Crimes don’t have any religion. But bringing religion into everything is in BJP’s DNA,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ankita’s octogenarian grandfather lit her pyre on the bank of the Mayurakshi river on Monday morning.
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