As the outrage over the Kolkata rape-murder case at RG Kar Medical College continues, two new assaulta were reported in the state of West Bengal, triggering more protests.
Amid these protests and outrage over crimes against women, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar slammed Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal for his remark regarding the frequency of rape amid the Kolkata outrage.
Sibal, who is a Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate, is representing the West Bengal government during the hearings of the Kolkata rape and murder case.
As per reports, advocate Sibal allegedly described the Kolkata murder case as a "symptomatic malaise" and suggested that such incidents are frequent and quite common in India.
This purported remark was met by backlash from many, now including the vice president of India.
Speaking at an event at AIIMS Rishikesh, VP Dhankar stated that "stray voices", such as Sibal, bring more concern and pain to the society.
"When humanity has been shamed, there are some stray voices, voices that cause concern. They only aggravate our excruciating pain. To put it mildly they are adding salt to our injured conscience. What do they say, 'it is a symptomatic malaise, a frequent incident'. When it comes from someone who is the Member of Parliament, a senior advocate, then the culpability is of extreme degree," stated Dhankar.
The vice president added that such demonising thoughts can "have no alibi".
"There can be no alibi for such kind of demonising thoughts. I call upon such misguided souls to revisit their thoughts and publicly tender apology. This is not an occasion where you should be looking through political prism. This political prism is a dangerous one, it kills your objectivity," the VP said.
He further criticised the "Selective silence" of NGOs in light of the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
