Is this a ’balatkari bachao...’: BJP accuses INDIA bloc of ’supporting rapists’ amid Badlapur encounter controversy

Lashing out at the INDIA bloc for allegedly ‘speaking in favour of rapists’, the Bharatiya Janata Party criticised the Congress and other alliance party leaders for opposing the encounter of the Badlapur sexual assault case accused.

Akshay Shinde, who was the accused in the sexual assault case of two minor girls in Maharashtra's Badlapur, was shot dead on Monday evening allegedly in retaliatory firing after he allegedly snatched a gun from a police officer and opened fire at him, newswire PTI reported.

While the BJP and other party leaders hailed the encounter, calling it an act of ‘self-defence’, several opposition party leaders have raised objections to the police action and demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter.

BJP criticises INDIA for ‘supporting rapist’

Recalling several INDIA bloc leaders' stances on cases like Kolkata RG Kar doctor rape and murder and Ayodhya gangrape, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla condemned the INDIA alliance leaders allegedly for “mourning of the death of a rapist”.

“Badlapur sexual assault accused Akshay Shinde died after being shot at by police in retaliatory firing. On the one hand, Maharashtra and Badlapur have taken a sigh of relief, whereas, on the other hand, parties of the INDI alliance are mourning the death of a rapist. Is this a 'balatkari bachao alliance'?” Shehzad Poonawalla asked.

Poonawalla attacks Mamata government over RG Kar doctor rape case

Shehzad Poonawalla also attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over mishandling the RG Kar doctor rape and murder case.

“In the RG Kar Medical College & Hospital rape-murder incident, they tried to save the accused,” said Poonawalla in his video message, in a direct reference to Mamata Banerjee and other TMC leaders.

“They tried to protect the accused Moeed Khan in the Ayodhya gangrape case... Some leaders of the Congress party and INDI alliance have started speaking in favour of rapists...This is very shameful,” he added.

While mentioning several Congress leaders' stance on the RG Kar doctor rape and murder case, BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said, “In the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder incident, the Mamata Banerjee government was trying to protect the accused.”

“Akhilesh Yadav was trying to protect the accused Moeed Khan in the Ayodhya gangrape case. Rahul Gandhi said that the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder incident is a distraction... Today, when action is taken as per law in the Badlapur incident, the leaders of Congress call it a cold-blooded murder. They never stand with women but they stand with their vote bank,” he added.