BJP mastered art of misusing religion to provide cover to rapists: Mehbooba

Srinagar: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday accused the BJP of using religion and nationalism to defend persons accused of rape.
She was reacting to reports about plans by Ayodhya seers to hold a rally in support of outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, who is facing sexual harassment charges by female wrestlers.
"BJP has mastered the art of misusing religion and nationalism to provide cover to rapists. I should know. During my tenure as CM, BJP ministers held a rally holding Indian flags supporting Kathua rapists. Against all odds, I ensured culprits were jailed and those ministers were sacked," Mehbooba tweeted.
Earlier, party worker staged a protest here against selective killings by terrorists in Kashmir, saying such incidents highlight the alleged failure of the government to ensure safety of the minority community members.
The protest by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) activists outside their Gandhi Nagar party headquarters came two days after terrorists gunned down 27-year-old circus worker Deepu Kumar, a resident of Udhampur district, in the Janglat Mandi area of Anantnag district.
Condemning the killing of Kumar, the PDP leaders demanded Rs 25 lakh compensation and a government job to his poor family.
"Selective killings at regular intervals shows the failure of the authorities to ensure safety of the helpless people working to earn their livelihood in Kashmir," PDP additional general secretary Sukhvinder Singh said.
He said the "BJP-controlled administration" has failed on all fronts and the latest incident exposed its tall claims of normalcy in the valley.
"This is not an isolated case, selective killings of innocent people are going unabated in Kashmir and those at the helm of the affairs are claiming that situation is normal," the PDP leader said, adding targeted killing just after the conclusion of much-touted G-20 meet is an eye opener for the administration.
"Instead of taking effective steps to ensure the safety of common citizens of Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP-controlled administration is shamelessly busy in photo sessions just to befool the people outside J-K," another party leader Rajinder Manhas said.
Demanding adequate compensation to the family of Kumar, PDP spokesperson Varinder Singh Sonu regretted that higher-ups of the administration have no time to visit the poor family of the deceased who was cremated in his home town on Tuesday.

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