'Can't see atrocities against women in Congress-ruled states': BJP tears into Gandhis over minor's rape 

NEW DELHI: The BJP hit out at the Congress on Saturday over a case of alleged rape and killing of a six-year-old girl belonging to a migrant family from Bihar in Punjab, as it asked opposition party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra why had they not paid a visit to the family of the victim yet.

Union minister and BJP leader Prakash Javadekar accused Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi of going on a "political tour" to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, where a Dalit girl was allegedly gang-raped and who died later, as he questioned the lack of a similar reaction from the two leaders to ghastly crimes against women in Punjab and Rajasthan, which are ruled by the Congress.

They go to these places for "photo-op", Javadekar said, referring to the Congress leaders' visit to Hathras in the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh.

"A six-year-old girl coming from a Dalit migrant family from Bihar was raped and murdered in Punjab's Tanda. Former Union minister Vijay Sampla from our party met the family. Nobody from the Congress met them. They (the Gandhis) cannot see atrocities against women in the states where it (Congress) is in power. Neither Rahul Gandhi nor Priyanka went there and nor was there any comment from its president, Sonia Gandhi," Javadekar told reporters here.

He also took a swipe at Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, saying he is campaigning for the upcoming Bihar polls with those who are keeping "mum" on the atrocity against a daughter from the state.

Javadekar also claimed that the culprits in the rape-and-murder case in Tanda have not been arrested yet and demanded stringent action against them.

In a horrifying incident, a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped, killed and then set on fire, with her half-burnt body found at a home in Tanda's Jalalpur village, police said on Thursday.

The accused -- Gurpreet Singh and his grandfather Surjit Singh -- have been arrested on the charges of murder, rape and under other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, they said.