MP gangrape: Indira Iyengar stands isolated

Iyengar had on Monday taken the victims from Nadia village of Khargone district to Raj Bhavan following which the Governor asked for details from the Chief Secretary and the DGP. A press conference Iyengar organised immediately after her Raj Bhavan visit was disrupted by Bajrang Dal activists who warned her to refrain from accusing Hindu organisations for the alleged atrocities against Christians.

Stung by the developments, the state government asked Commission chairman Anwar Mohammed Khan to serve a notice on her for not raising the issue in the Commission before holding a press conference. The notice is silent on her visit to Raj Bhavan. Khan said instead of honouring the Commission Iyengar always acted on her own when it came to cases of discrimination against the Christian community.

8216;8216;She belongs to the Congress and politicising the issue,8217;8217; Khan stated and accused her of blowing things out of proportions with an eye on the vacant post in the National Commission for Minorities. 8216;8216;Despite repeatedly advising you against it, you have been abusing your position,8217;8217; Khan said in the notice served on Wednesday afternoon.

8216;8216;If I don8217;t raise issues related to Christians who else will? After all, I represent the Christian community and not the Government,8217;8217; Iyengar said. She said a pastor from Khargone wrote to her requesting that the victims be paraded before the Governor as the state machinery did little despite her Iyengar writing to the district collectors and superintendents of police in the past in regard to other incidents.