Attacking the ‘award-wapasi’ brigade for not standing with a rape victim, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (11 May) questioned their silence on the recent gang rape of a Dalit woman in Alwar district of Rajasthan, reports Times of India.

The Prime Minister, during a public rally in Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh, was referring to a section of intellectuals who returned their national awards in 2015 alleging rise of the intolerance in the country under PM Modi-led government.

“I want to ask the ‘award-wapasi’ gang why they are silent on the rape of Alwar’s daughter. The Congress too has not taken up the issue,” PM Modi said, as reported by Hindustan Times.

“The crime was hushed up by the Congress government as Rajasthan was going to polls. This is the truth of the Congress’s ‘nyay’ (justice),” he said, in an apparent jibe at the income support scheme - NYuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) - promised by Congress if it came to power.

According to an India Today report, a young Dalit woman was gang-raped before her husband near Thanagazi in Alwar, Rajasthan on 26 April. The accused also filmed the incident and threatened to make it viral if the victim complained to the police. However, the couple registered a complaint with the police on 2 May.

As per the media reports, it was alleged by a few people on the social media that the police tried to suppress the incident due to the Lok Sabha elections.