Patna: The recent molestation and assault of two class X students in Bihar’s Jamui has triggered outrage across India.
Even as a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed and three suspects arrested, a comment by a Bihar minister has raised eyebrows.
Condemning the incident, Sports minister and Jamui MLA Shreyasi Singh went on to say that ‘moral policing’ could be done in a better way.
“Moral policing can be done in a more decent and elegant fashion. But the way they mishandled and mistreated the boy and girl together is absolutely not tolerable,” the 35-year-old BJP leader and former India shooter told India Today TV.
The statement was even more disappointing as the speaker was a woman.
Asked to clarify her remarks, Shreyasi said people could have an opinion about how others chose to live their lives, but there were better ways to express such views.
“You can have an opinion about how somebody chooses to live their life and what they want to do with it. Maybe there is a better way to do it… The videos that have come are shocking,” she said.
“How can you treat a boy and a girl of the society that you are living in? They must have known that this boy and girl are kids from Jammu. I can’t fathom the fact that they were treated this badly by the people of the community living there,” she said, adding that those responsible won’t escape accountability.
Congress leader Pawan Khera hit out at Shreyasi.
“This is quite something… So, what is next? ‘Rapes are fine as long as they are ‘decent and elegant’ – and not violent’?” Khera wrote on X. “Intrusion – verbal, physical, emotional, psychological or spiritual – does not become acceptable simply because it is done ‘decently’ or ‘elegantly’.”
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said she was “stunned and speechless”.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the Jamui MLA of defending “moral policing” after the viral video involving the two minors surfaced.
“A woman MLA is actually justifying what goons did to a minor… What kind of political training does the BJP give its leaders that they go to any length to protect their government and shamelessly defend such acts?” the party tweeted. “At the national level, BJP leaders defend rapists, while at the state level, their leaders openly defend those accused of molesting minors.”
Also Read: Jamui Molestation Case: Prime Suspect Nandan Yadav Shot In Leg, Taken Into Custody By SIT
