Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday wondered why Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was running scared when it came to sharing details of survivors of sexual assault he had mentioned in his speeches during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Thakur's remarks came in the wake of the Delhi Police serving a notice on Gandhi seeking to know details about references he had made in the speech in Srinagar about women being sexually assaulted.

"As a Parliamentarian, it was Rahul Gandhi’s responsibility to inform police about such incidents. When he can ride in a convoy to Hathras, why is he running scared now? What is the compulsion? Does he not want women to get justice," Thakur asked.

In 2020, Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra marched along with scores of Congress workers to meet the family members of a 19-year-old woman who was gang raped in Hathras in western Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress leaders were detained by the police near the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border.

Police had served him a notice on March 16, asking him "to give details about the women who approached him regarding sexual harassment". The notice said the police can take action in favour of women if Gandhi provides more details.

Thakur said the BJP wanted the House to function during the all-important budget session.

"We want Rahul Gandhi to apologise so that the House can function," the senior BJP leader said.

Hitting out at Gandhi for "maligning" India on foreign soil, Thakur said the Lok Sabha member from Wayanad had claimed that "democracy was being wiped out from India", but in reality, the Congress was being wiped out from the country's democracy.

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