Lucknow, Jan 3 (IANS) National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes chairman P.L.Punia Monday took strong exception to the Uttar Pradesh government’s objection to his intervention in the case of gang-rape of a minor backward class girl in the state’s Banda district.
Reacting sharply to state Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh’s remark that the NCSCST chairman was not entitled to seeking the Banda district magistrate’s report in the case as the victim happened to belong to a socially backward community, Punia urged Singh to ‘look into the constitutional provisions before raising such objections’.
‘The commission was fully empowered under Article 338 (10) of the Indian Constitution to look into and investigate cases of atrocities against the backward castes too,’ Punia said in a statement issued here. ‘Therefore, I wrote to the Banda DM (district magistrate) to send me a report on the whole case,’ he said.
Taking a dig at the UP cabinet secretary, he said: ‘I am surprised that a senior government official is speaking like a political spokesman.’
He termed Singh’s remark as ‘highly objectionable’ and ‘offensive’ against the spirit of the constitution.
Singh, who had made the remark at a press conference on behalf of the chief minister, was not available for fresh comment.
A Congress MP from Barabanki, Punia is a retired Indian Adminstrative Service officer who had worked as principal secretary to chief minister Mayawati during her three earlier stints. He had worked in the same capacity during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s tenure too.
