The Samajwadi Party and Congress, on Sunday, targeted the Uttar Pradesh government after two of the three accused in the IIT-BHU gang-rape case were released on bail, saying that it exposed the hypocrisy of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led dispensation’s claims about security of women.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav said the rape accused, who worked with the IT cell of the BJP, getting bail was both condemnable and worrisome.

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai charged that the BJP, which claims to be dealing with rapists with iron hand, instead welcomes them with garlands.

In a post on X, Akhilesh Yadav shared a video, asserting that the accused were granted bail due to weak perusal of the case by the state government.

“The question is who was pressurising the prosecution to defend the rapists in a weak manner in court. It is a shameful thing that is demoralising the daughters of the country that not only these rapists were released on bail, they were accorded warm welcome with garlands as per BJP tradition,” Yadav said and added, “Would BJP like to say something to the sisters and daughters of the country about this? It is hoped that all the women anchors doing true journalism will definitely do a show about this.”

Akhilesh Yadav said the BJP owed a clarification to the people whether its workers had been given special exemption and freedom to commit rape in the Lok Sabha constituency of the prime minister.”

The backlash intensified as photos depicting accused Anand alias Abhishek Chauhan and Kunal Pandey receiving a warm welcome upon their release and cutting cake went viral.

The UP Congress president accused the Uttar Pradesh Police of facilitating the bail for the two accused, allegedly involved in the rape of a BTech student of IIT-BHU, Varanasi.

 Rai claimed that in this incident, which is a shame on humanity, the rapists got bail just due to the poor investigation of the police. 

Reacting to the development here on Sunday morning, Rai alleged that after the gang-rape, the accused went to campaign for the BJP in the Madhya Pradesh elections and both of them took shelter there. He said due to the pressure of Congress and students, the Varanasi police arrested the accused after about 60 days.

The UP Congress president remarked what the Yogi Adityanath government thinks about women is clear from this incident. 

"First the government tried to save the accused and when they had to be arrested due to pressure, the case was weakened by weak advocacy in the court," he charged.

“On one side there is the power of authority and on the other side there is criminal tendency. What is the guarantee that they will not come out and threaten the victim or try to pressurise her? Not only this, after the bail of both the accused, they are being welcomed with garlands of flowers,” the UP Congress chief said.

Rai said that recently the prime minister had said that justice should be delivered quickly in cases of crime against women whereas in his own parliamentary constituency Varanasi, rapists were being benefited due to poor advocacy.

“When criminals who commit crimes against women are welcomed with garlands, their morale will increase and half the population will lose faith in law and order.

The truth is that the way crimes against women are increasing day by day in Uttar Pradesh is the result of this weak and insensitive law and order. Garlands for rapists and disappointment and fear for victims have become the identity of this Yogi government,” Rai said..

Reportedly, Chauhan and Pandey were released from a Varanasi jail last week.

Allahabad High Court Justice Krishan Pahal granted bail to Chauhan on July 2 and to Pandey on July 4.

Pandey’s counsel told the court that he had no criminal history and had been languishing in jail since December 31 last year.

The three accused allegedly raped a woman student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) when she had come out of her hostel with a friend on the night of November 1 last year, according to the complaint lodged in the matter.

The accused allegedly took her to a corner, gagged and stripped her. They also made a video and clicked photos of the student before letting her go, the complaint stated.

Chauhan, Pandey and the third accused Saksham Patel were arrested in December last year.