The demonstrator holding placards and protesting against India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi walk past supporters of Prime Minister in Parliament Squarwalksondon, Britain, April 18, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

LONDON (Reuters) - Hundreds of noisy protesters greeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he arrived in London on Wednesday, demonstrating over a rising tide of sexual violence at home, including two particularly brutal rapes.

Holding placards reading “Modi go home” and “we stand against Modi’s agenda of hate and greed,” they gathered outside Downing Street and parliament as Modi arrived for talks with Prime Minister Theresa May.

Modi later responded at an event in front of thousands of Indian, saying the rape cases were “a matter of great concern”, had brought “a shame” on the country and called for the perpetrators to be outed.

Sexual violence against women is a highly charged political issue in India, where protests regularly erupt about entrenched violence against women and the failure to protect them.

“The Indian government are doing nothing, and you feel sorry for the families because of the total injustice of it all,” said Navindra Singh, an Indian-born lawyer who lives in Britain.

“He has been in power for four years now and there has been no policy change to help protect women and children.”

Protests have erupted across India after the latest rape cases were reported. Police officers and a politician are under investigation in two of the unrelated cases.

In a crime that shocked India, an eight-year-old Muslim girl in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir was kidnapped, drugged and held for several days while she was raped repeatedly and then murdered.

In the other case, a state lawmaker from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party stands accused of raping a teenager. No action was taken against the politician until the girl threatened to set herself on fire earlier this month. Her father died soon afterward from injuries he suffered in police custody.

Modi’s comments on Wednesday followed remarks last week, which came after a week of silence on the issue and promised justice regardless of whoever the guilty were.

Demonstrator holds a placards and pictures of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament Square, London, Britain, April 18, 2018. 

Nearly 40 percent of India’s rape victims are children, and the 40,000 reported rapes in 2016 marked a 60 percent increase over the level in 2012. But women’s rights groups say the figures are still gross underestimates.

In London, a spokeswoman for a group of UK-based Indian students and alumni - who did not want her name to be used - said the group had come under fire after it sent a letter to Modi last week demanding action over the rape cases. The letter was signed by Indian and Asian student groups from more than 20 British universities.

She told Reuters many of the university groups had received calls from “UK-based individuals” pressuring them to remove their signatures from the letter, and that members of the group had not received tickets for Wednesday’s event with Modi, although the organizers had told they would.

“The question you have to ask is are our voices being silenced,” she said.

Demonstrator holds a placards and pictures of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament Square, London, Britain, April 18, 2018. 

Modi, a Hindu nationalist, is a divisive figure in India and his second trip to Britain as prime minister represents a remarkable turnaround for a man who was once banned from the UK over his alleged role, as chief minister of Gujarat, in riots that killed about 1,000 people in 2002.

Britain ended a boycott of Modi in 2012 after he emerged from being a provincial politician to the likely leader of the world’s largest democracy. He has denied wrongdoing and was exonerated by an inquiry ordered by India’s Supreme Court.

Read More: https://in.reuters.com/article/britain-chogm-modi/prime-minister-modi-confronted-by-angry-protests-in-london-idINKBN1HP1R9

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Kathua and Unnao rape cases: Sonam Kapoor to Swara Bhasker - B-Town bleeds saying 'I am Hindustan I am Ashamed'

Sonam Kapoor took to her Twitter account to stand against those accused of the brutal rape and murder of an 8-year-old Kashmiri girl and the Unnao rape case. She shared her message for #JusticeForOurChild campaign holding a placard in her hand.

  

The horrific details of the Kathua rape and murder case have left the nation in shock. A number of B-Town actors and other celebrities have come out and demanded that justice is meted the 8-year-old girl who was kidnapped, sedated, brutally raped for days and then finally murdered.

  

The barbaric incident in Kathua took place in January. The victim belonged to a nomadic Muslim tribe in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. After being missing for a week, her body was found on January 17.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police filed an FIR against lawyers of Jammu who tried to prevent Crime Branch officers from filing a charge sheet in a court on Monday in connection with the Kathua rape and murder case.

The Lipstick Under My Burka director Alankrita Shrivastava too posted on social media. A special team of the crime branch has made a case of conspiracy, kidnapping, wrongful confinement, gang rape, murder and destruction of evidence against eight accused, which include: Sanjhi Ram, the suspected mastermind, who is a former revenue official and local strongman; his son Vishal Kumar, a college student; Ram's 16-year-old nephew who is the juvenile, and his friend Parvesh Kumar; Special Police Officers (SPOs) of Hiranagar police station Deepak Khajuria and Surinder Kumar; Sub Inspector of Hiranagar police station Anand Dutta, who was also investigating officer in the case, and Head Constable Tilak Raj.

Masaan actress Richa Chadha shared a video on her Twitter account with the same message, seeking justice for the victim.

Qarib Qarib Single actress Parvathy TK shared the message on her social media account. In the Unnao rape case, the victim alleged that she was raped by an MLA at his residence on June 4, 2017, where she had gone with a relative seeking a job.

In February, the girl's family moved court seeking to include the MLA's name in the Unnao rape case.

After filing of the case, the victim's father was booked by the police under the arms act on April 3 this year and put in jail on April 5.

  

Frustrated with the alleged inaction and coercion from powerful people, the victim attempted self-immolation in front of Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath's residence on April 8 which made headlines.

The next day, her father died in jail with postmortem suggesting serious injuries on his body.

Faced with the embarrassment of its own MLA from Bangarmau in Unnao allegedly being involved in the rape case, the state government had referred the matter to the Centre yesterday -- a day before Allahabad High Court was to pronounce its order on the probe into the case by the central agency.

The Centre too acted with alacrity referring the matter to the CBI last night. The agency sleuths swooped down at the residence of Sengar in Lucknow in the early hours today and took him for questioning at its office in Lucknow, the officials said. Sengar, a four-term MLA, enjoys immense clout cutting across party lines in the rural areas around Unnao district, a semi-urban area about 70 km from Lucknow. A purported video of the girls' father before his death has gone viral and was also aired on several TV news channels. (All images via Twitter)

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SCR rally against Kathua rape

Secunderabad: Scores of railway employees organized a human chain at Sanchalan Bhavan here on Monday in protest against Kathua and Unnao rapes, demanding punishment for therapists. Members of South Central Railway Mazdoor Union (SCRMU) expressed solidarity with the families of the girls. On the sidelines, employees also paid homage to BR Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary.

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