Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga rejuvenation Uma Bharti while reacting to a news article published in a section of newspapers, said that the issue is serious and comprehensive and discussions on it should be stopped till March 11, 2017.
Bharti said, “After the Uttar Pradesh elections, The Indian Express should organise a detailed programme and in that I would expose the incidences of Madhya Pradesh, but would never reveal the names of those police personnel, who tortured rapists on my instructions. I am ready to bear the punishment for that and would do the same whenever I get a chance to do the same.”
Notably, The Indian Express had published that Bharti has revealed that she had rapists tortured and asked victims to watch while she was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
While addressing a rally in Agra, she raised the issue of the Bulandshahr gang rape and said, “Rapists should be tortured in front of the victims until they beg for their lives. When I was the Chief Minister, I got it done,” she added.
Bharti provided details on how rapists should be tortured.
“Rapists should be hung upside down. They should be beaten till their skin comes off. Also, salt and chilly should
be rubbed on their skin, especially on their wounds, till they scream and beg for forgiveness. This is what I had done when I was the Chief Minister,” she said.
She went on to say how a police officer objected to the torture of rapists on the grounds of violation of human rights. She said that rapists have no human rights. “I told the police officer that people who behave like danav (demons) do not deserve human rights. Their heads should be cut off like Ravana’s,” she told the gathering in Agra.
Bharti was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh from 2003 to 2004.