Rape of minor is rape,' says UP minister, questions rape cases of married woman

Lucknow: An Uttar Pradesh minister on Sunday questioned the authenticity of some rape cases saying there is a "nature" of each rape.

Water Supply, Land Development and Water Resources Minister Upendra Tiwari said, "There is a nature of rape. Now if a minor is raped, it will be considered as rape. But at times we hear that a married woman in the age-group of 30-35 years too has been a victim of a similar incident...for 7-8 years there would be an affair, then complaint of rape comes...Such matters should have been raised then."

A video clip of the minister's controversial comment was shared on social media websites.

Tiwari also said that whenever an incident of rape takes place, "the chief minister himself takes cognizance and strict action is initiated against the guilty."

The shocking murder of a two-year-old girl in Aligarh was just one among four such attacks against minors to occur across Uttar Pradesh in the first week of June, police records show. The Aligarh incident made headlines when the girl's mutilated body was found by a woman sanitation worker in a garbage dump on June 2. Although a post-mortem examination of the body has been completed, police are still awaiting a separate report that will confirm if the girl was sexually assaulted before the murder.

According to reports, a 40-year-old man was arrested on charges of raping a 3-year-old girl in Barabanki district on Wednesday.

On Friday, an eight-year-old girl was raped at a graveyard in Bareilly's Jagganathpur village.