Rahul Gandhi slams harassment of Class 10 students in Bihar's Jamui

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday condemned the harassment of two class 10 students, including a girl, by a group of men in Jamui, Bihar, and demanded an explanation from the state government regarding the incident.

"Who gave these men the right to behave like this? This is not culture". It is patriarchy: the belief that any man can police a girl's body, her movement, her choices. When control is mistaken for culture, and such attitudes are normalised by 'andhbhakts', mobs start believing they are the law," Gandhi said in a social media post. "Every individual in that video must be identified and prosecuted under POCSO, and justice must be swift. And if the incident happened on September 19th, why are the culprits not behind bars yet? And the Bihar government must answer why a girl is not safe on a public road at 7 pm?"

Party president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "A shameful outrage occurred against a female student in Jamui, Bihar, and before that, the gang rape and murder of a 17-year-old daughter in Delhi... Such incidents expose the lies and hypocrisy of the BJP's "Nari Shakti Vandan" and "Beti Bachao". Our demand is clear - the harshest punishment for the culprits and accountability from state governments."