NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the sexual abuse allegations against JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna, asking whether being part of "Modi's political family" a "guarantee of protection for criminals".

Police on Sunday booked Prajwal Revanna and his father H D Revanna on charges of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation based on a complaint from a woman, who worked in their household.

Prajwal is the grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and nephew of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy.

Faced with the unrelenting attack from the Congress and other political parties, the JD (S), an ally of the BJP, suspended Prajwal.

In a post in Hindi, Gandhi said, "As always, Narendra Modi has maintained shameful silence on the gruesome crimes committed against women in Karnataka."

"The Prime Minister will have to answer, despite knowing everything, why did he campaign for the devil who exploited hundreds of daughters, just for votes? After all, how did such a big criminal escape from the country with such ease?" the former Congress chief said.

From Kaiserganj to Karnataka and from Unnao to Uttarakhand, the prime minister's "silent support" to the criminals of daughters is emboldening the criminals across the country, Gandhi said.

"Is being part of Modi's 'political family' a 'guarantee of protection' for criminals?" he said.