Hours after taking oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kavinder Gupta made a gaffe on Monday, 30 April, when he called the Kathua rape case a "small incident".
Coming under fire for his insensitive comment, Gupta soon attempted to clarify his previous statement, by saying that since the matter was sub-judice, it would be improper to bring it up time and again.
Speaking to ANI, Gupta said:
Kathua ka maamla subjudice hai. Ab uspar SC tay karegi, baar baar us issue ko chhedna thik nahi hai. Is maamle ko tul dena acchi baat nahi hai. Maine ye kaha ki is tarah ke kaafi maamle hain, janbhooj kar isko bhadkane ki koshish nahin karni chahiye. (Kathua case is subjudice now. The SC will decide on the case, it is improper to bring the issue up again and again. It should not be given as much weightage. I had said that there were many cases like this, don’t try and make this unnecessarily big.)
The Kathua rape case, where an eight-year-old was raped and murdered, had shocked the nation with its brutality.
Gupta was sworn in as the state’s Deputy Chief Minister earlier in the day, a day after BJP leader Nirmal Singh tendered his resignation.
Gupta has also served as the mayor of Jammu for three terms consecutively from 2005 to 2010, which is a record.
He has also been a general secretary of the BJP's state unit.
Gupta was elected as an MLA for the first time in 2014 from the Gandhi Nagar seat, where he defeated a sitting Congress minister Raman Bhalla.
Gupta was soon unanimously elected as the Speaker of the J&K Assembly.
He is known for his work for the upliftment of the poor and downtrodden sections of the society as well as for his efforts to eradicate social evils.
(With inouts from PTI)
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