Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India should respect and protect its women, breaking his silence on a crime wave that included the rape and hanging of two girls two weeks ago.
In his first speech to parliament since a dramatic election victory last month, Modi promised to govern for the poor, to train India’s bulging youth population to be an effective labour force and to shed the country’s tawdry reputation for graft.
Backed by the strongest electoral mandate in three decades, Modi has acted to re-establish India as a regional leader and to restore investor optimism towards Asia’s third largest economy.
But until now, he had been notably silent about the spate of violence and sex crimes in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
“We have to be concerned about women’s respect and security. All these incidents should make us introspect. The government will have to act. The country won’t wait and people won’t forget,” he said.
The Prime minister went on to urge politicians not to speculate publicly on why rapes are committed.
The double killing in Uttar Pradesh was the most shocking in a series of crimes that has highlighted a breakdown of law and order in the city, and triggered criticism of the political leadership in the state.
Relatives refused to allow the bodies of the girls, aged 12 and 14, to be cut down from a village mango tree until police took up the case. Three suspects have been arrested and two policemen held on suspicion of attempting to cover up the crime.
On Tuesday, another woman was found hanged from a tree near the Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh. Police have opened an investigation into the murder.
