Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel
PTI
Ahmedabad: The Congress on Thursday took out a foot march here seeking death penalty for the school principal held last week for allegedly killing a six-year-old girl student in Dahod district of Gujarat.
State Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil sought to know why Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and other leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state were silent over the girl's murder.
Demanding justice for the girl, Gohil and other Congress leaders took part in the march from the party's office in Paldi area till the Town Hall near Ellis Bridge.
Talking to reporters, Gohil said if CM Patel can write a long post on 'X' about the rape-murder of a resident doctor in West Bengal, why has he not spoken about the Dahod case.
"That six-year-old girl in Dahod was brutally murdered by the school principal for resisting his advances. But there is no word from the CM yet because the accused is a local RSS functionary who believed in BJP's ideology and sought vote for the party candidates during elections," Gohil claimed while talking to reporters during the foot match.
Referring to some photographs available on social media, the Congress leader said the accused principal, Govind Nat, had in the past attended an RSS event in the outfit's uniform, which proves his association with the organisation and the BJP.
He alleged that Gujarat BJP leaders, who had taken out candle marches in the state over the issue of West Bengal incident, are silent over the Dahod incident.
"Our CM is also silent because the accused was close to BJP. We have seen in the past how accused persons associated with BJP were easily let off. We condemn such practice through this foot march and demand that the case must be tried in a fast track court. The accused principal must be given capital punishment," Gohil said.
In his response, Gujarat minister Jagdish Vishwakarma said the BJP government will ensure that justice is served and the accused gets strict punishment.
"The accused has already been arrested and strict action will be taken. In the past as well, we had such cases in fast track courts and ensured that justice was served. No matter who the accused is, we will not spare anyone," the Minister of State for MSME in the Gujarat government told reporters in Gandhinagar on Thursday.
The girl's body was found in the school compound in Torani village in Singvad taluka of Dahod district on September 26 and a probe zeroed in on principal Nat.
Nat, who was taking the child to school in his car, smothered her to death after she fended of his sexual assault attempt, as per police. He was held on September 22.