Union Minister Ananth Kumar targets Kerala govt over crime against women

Kochi: Raising the issue of rape-murder of a Dalit woman, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ananth Kumar on Friday accused the Congress-led UDF government in Kerala of failing to keep law and order in the poll-bound state.

He urged the state government to rise above politics and go for a CBI probe into the heinous crime that occurred nearby Perumbavoor last week.

"Kerala is undergoing turmoil. And that turmoil is because of the total failure of law and order," he told a meet-the-press event organised by Ernakulam Press Club here. The Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilizers accused both Chandy (CM) and Chennithala (state Home Minister) of "failing" to perform their constitutional duty. "It is the constitutional duty to maintain law and order, give security to life and honour to all, including Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe. Both of them have failed in performing their constitutional duty," he said.

Kumar was referring to the recent suicide of a tribal girl allegedly due to hunger and last week's brutal murder and rape of the 30-year-old Law student and said this pointed to the "callous" nature of the state administration. "Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, rising above politics, should use all agencies--Special Branch... CBI to go to the bottom of the case and catch hold of the culprits. "For the first time in the history of Kerala, the security of women is threatened... It has never happened," he said. The law student, who hailed from a poor family, was raped and brutally assaulted using sharp-edged weapons before being murdered at her house at nearby Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district on April 28.