Bulandshahr Highway Gangrape: Akhilesh Cracks the Whip, Top Officers Suspended

More than 36 hours after the horrific gangrape of a 35-year-old mother and her 14-year-old daughter on the Delhi-Kanpur highway in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav cracked the whip and suspended 3 top police officers and two inspectors in the area.

The Bulandshahr SSP, ASP, Circle officer and Inspector were all suspended with immediate effect.

CM Yadav had given a 24-hour ultimatum to the SSP of Bulandshahr to crack the case and had also directed all top officials to visit the site and take stock of the situation.

Earlier, DGP Javeed Ahmed had said that five people have been detained in connection with the incident and a manhunt has been launched to catch hold of the remaining culprits.

"3 of the culprits who are detained have been identified by the victim. They will be arrested soon," Javeed told the media adding that the victims have been robbed and it is not clear whether the motive was robbery or rape.

Javeed reiterated that the arrests will be made very soon although he didn't give a specific time frame as to when the police will be able to arrest all the culprits.

Earlier, Javeed had claimed that the culprits will be arrested by Sunday evening.

The police had said that the women were raped for three hours at gunpoint in the wee hours of Sunday morning while other family members were thrashed.

A nomadic gang from Rajasthan is believed to be behind the crime, police added.

Meanhwile political slugfest began over the incident and all parties took turns to take a swipe at the ruling Akhilesh Yadav government.

BSP Chief Mayawati said that the incident only highlighted the deteriorating law and order situation in the state and termed the it as a shameful act.

"Such incidents indicate the insensitivity of the Samajwadi Party towards the people. Strict action should be taken against the culprits & against the cops who failed in patrolling the highways," Mayawati added.

Union Minister Mahesh Sharma too slammed the state government in failing to provide proper security to the women and children in the state.

"If the ruling government has failed to protect a 14-year-old, I don't really think they should continue to rule the state. They should just step down," Sharma said.

Former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit who is also the Congress' CM candidate from the state for the upcoming assembly elections tweeted her ire over the incident.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi too expressed shock over the incident.

Samajwadi Party Spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia however tried to defend his government and quoted from a NCRB data to prove that there were more rapes happening in the BJP ruled state of Madhya Pradesh than in Uttar Pradesh.