Rohtak shelter home case heinous but isolated: Hooda

Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday held that albeit the revelations about the Apna Ghar shelter home case were heinous and shocking, it was an isolated and stray incident.

Insisting that the state government had sought a CBI investigation as it was for a fair probe into the case, Hooda said that he would ensure that all guilty were brought to book and given exemplary punishment. "I can assure you, no one is being favoured, shielded or protected," he maintained.

About other cases reflecting deteriorating law and order in the state, the chief minister asserted that these too were "stray incidents" reflecting societal changes and not of organised crimes. "One should recall how crimes were committed in an organized manner and criminals protected by previous Indian National Lok Dal regime led by Om Prakash Chautala," he remarked.

To the question on Khap diktats, Hooda held that these bodies were akin to any social organisation. Maintaining that the concept of khaps had largely been misunderstood or not understood at all in several quarters, the chief minister said that it was a khap which opened a school in Rohtak in 1912 when there was only one school in Delhi and another in Lahore.

"No khap has ever espoused any killing or violent action against anyone in Haryana and their fiats have always been on the basis of social values," he said.

Hooda also maintained that it was during the past seven years of his government that all parts of the state had seen unprecedented progress on all fronts, especially girls education.