Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said that strict action will be taken against rapists. Speaking to reporters in Jind after meeting kin of a victim, Ms Gandhi said Khap cannot decide law, it is in the hands of the judiciary. Ms Gandhi visited the family of a dalit girl who committed suicide after she was gang-raped in Haryana's Jind district over the weekend. Mrs Gandhi was accompanied by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Union Minister Kumari Selja. Our correspondent reports, in the last 30 days, 11 rapes have been reported from Jind.
The Superintendent of Police, Hisar, has said that rapes will be dealt by fast track courts and strictest punishment will be awarded to the accused. The khap panchayat – a body of elders which controls social norms and traditions in rural Haryana – of Rohtak, said that the sexual assaults could be stopped if boys and girls got married earlier.