By IANS,
New Delhi : Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury Thursday said her bold public stance on the Aarushi Talwar murder case had won her many supporters – never mind if it invited the ire of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
“I’ve got a lot of letters and telegrams from organisations and mothers for talking about the issue in public,” Chowdhury told reporters here at the national consultation on schemes for relief and rehabilitation for victims of rape.
“It is our responsibility to take up and talk about such issues. Children are our asset and they are our future.”
Aarushi, 15, a student of Delhi Public School (DPS) was found dead in her Noida home May 16 with her throat slit and multiple stab injuries on her face, chest and neck. The family’s domestic help, Hemraj, 45, was also found murdered on the terrace of the house the next day.
Aarushi’s dentist father Rajesh Talwar was arrested May 23 for the murders. The CBI has now arrested Krishna, a compunder who worked in the dental clinic of Talwar.
But Chowdhury had objected to a statement made by police inspector general (Meerut zone) Gurdarshan Singh casting aspersions on Aarushi’s character. He had said at a press conference the girl was as “characterless as her father”.
Singh and three other Noida police officials were subsequently taken off the case and transferred. The Central Bureau of Investigation is now handling the probe.
Chowdhury also hit out at Mayawati over the probe into the sensational double murders in Noida on the outskirts of Delhi.
“Mayawati still doesn’t think that the policemen (who passed derogatory remarks against Aarushi) should be suspended. I consider her an intelligent woman. Merely transferring policemen is not enough,” she said.
Chowdhury said it is the chief minister’s responsibility to ensure that men in uniform don’t pass “vulgar” and “derogatory” remarks against a person who is not alive.
Mayawati had earlier said the central minister should stop “issuing irresponsible statements” and “stop issuing petty political statements in a matter that is so serious and sensitive”.
A child rights commission has also written to police on the issue.