Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta. Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta.

Hours after he was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Kavinder Gupta on Monday courted controversy by terming the rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Kathua as a “minor incident”.

In a video posted by Congress leader Salman Nizami, Gupta is heard saying, “The Kathua incident is a minor one and shouldn’t be given much importance.”

However, while clarifying his statements later on, the newly-elected deputy CM said, “The Supreme Court is yet to give its verdict on the case. There is no point in discussing the topic over and over again. I said there are a lot of similar cases and this particular one should not be exaggerated.”

After pro-rapist MLA was inducted in Ministry, this shameless/heartless BJP neta- Dy CM J&K Kavinder Gupta says Rape & murder of 8 year old girl in Kathua is a SMALL issue, shd not be given much hype. And his supporters Laugh…..! Shame BJP Shame. pic.twitter.com/6rkxSiBhhv — Salman Nizami (@SalmanNizami_) April 30, 2018

Gupta and BJP state president Sat Sharma were among eight MLAs sworn-in into the coalition council of ministers led by chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Jammu on Monday. Gupta, an old BJP and RSS hand representing Gandhi Nagar assembly constituency, replaced Dr Nirmal Singh who announced his resignation on Sunday. Singh has now been made the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in place of the former.

“The party has given me the responsibility to bring in change after three years. I’ll try my best to meet the expectations of the people and work for Jammu, Kashmir & Ladakh. We had entered into an alliance, following people’s mandate. I hope it keeps working for them,” Kavinder Gupta said before the oath ceremony, reported ANI.

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