Sadhna Bharti.

The Congress today criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Madhya Pradesh over its failure to arrest a priest, who is accused of rape and has been absconding for over a year now. The party also questioned the silence of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is an MP from Guna, the constituency where this incident took place over a year ago.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here today, party leader Sadhna Bharti revealed that the priest of a temple identified as Brajesh Sharma had repeatedly raped an OBC disabled girl for a long period, threatening to kill her father if she resisted.

She disclosed that the rape survivor had also delivered a child. The child, she said, is now over one year old but the rapist priest has still not been arrested.

Ms Bharti said that the disabled rape survivor, belonging to the OBC community, had been left to her own fate as she had not got any aid or support from anyone. She said the government of India had not provided her any assistance from the ‘Nirbhaya Fund’, which is meant for supporting such victims.

She disclosed that when she spoke to the local police officer, he told her that the rapist priest possessed multiple identity cards. She wondered how such a person was allowed to serve as a priest in a temple.

Questioning Scindia’s silence, Ms Bharti asked him to intervener as the local MP and ensure justice for the survivor. She also questioned the silence of other senior BJP leader Ms Uma Bharti, saying that despite being from the OBC community herself, she had not helped the rape survivor in any manner.