New Delhi, Jul 23 (IANS): The Congress on Monday raised in the Lok Sabha the issue of lynching of a Muslim man in Rajasthan's Alwar, triggering protests from the ruling BJP and others.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Congress MP from Alwar Karan Singh Yadav said that it was the "fourth such incident in the state".

He alleged that self-proclaimed cow protectors were behind the Saturday's attack, and also attacked the Rajasthan Police for not taking the victim to hospital in time.

Rakbar Khan alias Akbar, 28, was on Saturday thrashed by a mob on suspicion of being a cow smuggler.

The Rajasthan Police has since formed a high-level team to probe the reasons for the delay in taking Rakbar to hospital.

Earlier in the day, members of the two parties clashed in the Lok Sabha when Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia raised the issue of rising rape cases.

"The cases of rape against women are increasing in the country. When the Kathua rape case was highlighted the BJP MLAs... who were then ministers came out in support of the rape accused," he said.

"Even in the Unnao rape case, the rapist was none other than a BJP MLA," he said.

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar has been named as an accused in the Unnao rape case. He was arrested by the CBI on April 13.

When Scindia raised the rape of a minor girl in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur, he was interrupted by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. "Don't do politics over everything. I am also a woman...," Mahajan said.

Scindia then said that according to National Crime Record Bureau, at least 40,000 rape cases are registered every year in the country. "Of these, 19,000 cases pertain to rape of minors," he said.