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Rape victim claims BJP workers lured more than 35 women into prostitution on pretext of giving jobs

The victim claimed that some businessmen and politicians including the BJP workers persuaded them to enter prostitution.

A 23-year-old woman who was allegedly gang-raped by four BJP workers has come forward to make some shocking revelations. The victim has claimed that BJP workers pushed over 35 women into prostitution on the pretext of giving them jobs in Naliya town of Kutch district, Gujarat.

According to a report in The Hindu, the victim claimed that some businessmen and politicians including the BJP workers persuaded them to enter prostitution.

In the FIR filed by the victim, she said, “they raped me repeatedly at various places, including in a car, and they also filmed it and threatened that if I did not submit to their wishes, they would circulate the video clip on social media.”

The victim has further claimed that at first she was raped by three people who allegedly spiked her drink when she visited them to ask for advance salary.

The Gujarat BJP General Secretary K.C. Patel immediately affirmed that he had suspended party workers, whose names were mentioned in the FIR. The accused have been identified as Shantilal Solanki, the Abdasa taluka president of the party’s Baxi Panch; BJP councillors in the Gandhidham municipality Govind Parumalani, Ajit Ramvani; and Vasant Bhanushali, a party worker. The party also went on to lash out at the opposition parties including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party for turning it into a political issue.

Meanwhile, the opposition have also demanded a judicial inquiry into the entire incident.

However, the party has dismissed the allegation that, BJP workers’ identity cards were provided to 35 girls to gain access to party functions by terming them as “fake”. This incident can turn out to be a major set back for BJP ahead of Gajarat Assembly Elections later in 2017.

The Hindu quoted Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil as saying, “it is shocking that BJP leaders in Kutch were involved in running an organized sex racket, in which young girls were lured and exploited sexually.”