Kathua, Unnao rape cases: DCW chief’s hunger strike enters 2nd day

New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal continued her hunger strike for the second day on Saturday demanding that the government take concrete actions to curb sexual crimes against women. 

The hunger strike by Maliwal comes in wake of the recent incidents of rape in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Unnao in Uttar Pradesh. She had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday regarding the same. 

"Prime minister did fast for one day. We were hoping that he will speak something on the issue and will give assurance to the countrymen to ensure safety of our daughters. But the silence of the PM and the entire government is very heart breaking," Maliwal had said before beginning the strike. 

In his first comments on the gruesome incidents, Modi had on Friday called them as a "shame" for the country and asserted that the guilty would not be spared and daughters would get justice. In Kathua, an eight-year-old girl from the nomadic Bakerwal community had gone missing from near her house on January 10 and a week later, her body was found in the same area. In the Unnao case, a 17-year-old girl has alleged that she was raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar at his residence on June 4, 2017.