HALL OF SHAME! 15 worst gaffes on rape incidents

India is yet to come to terms with the barbaric gangrape and subsequent death of the 23-year-old paramedical student in a bus in the national capital on December 16. Yet, several luminaries of the country are coming up with one bizarre logic after another to stop the intensifying menace of crimes against women, on a regular basis.

Most of them, however, have one common grouse: women are equally responsible for crimes against them.

These personalities, from god-men of questionable conduct, to politicians at the helm of affairs, are just unable to gauge the growing public anger. Many wish these irresponsible remarks are the last things an unsafe India requires to tackle this menace. Some remarks reek of a pathetic mindset, others are plain stupid.

Rediff.com takes a look at some of these remarks:

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With inputs from Agencies

Spiritual leader Asaram Bapu was at the centre of a controversy sparking outrage after he suggested that the Delhi gangrape victim was equally responsible for the crime and said the girl could have called her assailants brothers and begged them to stop.

As condemnation poured in from across the country expressing displeasure over the godman's remarks, his spokesperson tried to 'clarify' that media 'misquoted' Asaram's statements.

The next day, a defiant Asaram Bapu reacted pathetically to critics while terming them 'dogs' and comparing himself to 'an elephant'. However, in a complete volte-face later in the evening, Bapu expressed his will to 'apologise a thousand times' if he has in any way hurt the sentiments of the gangrape victim's family.

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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat stirred up the hornet's nest with his statement that rape is mainly prevalent in urban 'India' due to western influence and such crimes against women do not happen in rural 'Bharat.'

The remark, which came against the backdrop of the Delhi gangrape incident, was slammed by parties across the board and several women's bodies, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the RSS defended it, saying the comment should be taken in the proper perspective.

After a couple of days, Bhagwat created a fresh row with remarks that a woman is bound by contract to husband to look after him.

"A husband and wife are involved in a contract under which the husband has said that you should take care of my house and I will take care of all your needs. I will keep you safe.

"So, the husband follows the contract terms. Till the time, the wife follows the contract, the husband stays with her, if the wife violates the contract, he can disown her," Bhagwat told a rally in Indore on Saturday.

Reacting sharply to Bhagwat's comment, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Brinda Karat said, "I don' think it is really surprising because at the end of the day, this is what RSS is. That is why I think it is the retrogade 'samiti' of India. These were the regents who when Bharatiya Janata Party was in power wanted a new Constitution of India based on 'manushriti'. So when he talks in this language, he only reflects his ideology."

RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav said the projection of Bhagwat's views on the marriage system in the Indian context is "totally false".

"It is totally falsifying his views. He said the western marriage system is contractual where a man and a woman consider marriage as a contract whereas he also went on to say that Indian marriage system is a very sacred institution.

"In this, the woman has a place of great respect and the man has certain obligations towards the family and the way the whole thing was projected was as though Bhagwat was calling Indian marriage contractual. This is total distortion of what he has said," according to Madhav.

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Joining a list of leaders who made controversial remarks following the Delhi gangrape incident, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi on Tuesday said women should not go out with men other than relatives and agreed with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's view that most rapes take place in cities and not villages.

"Women should not venture out with men who are not relatives," Azmi, a member of Maharashtra assembly, said in Mumbai.

"What is the need for roaming at night with men who are not relatives? This should be stopped," he said.

"Such incidents (like the Delhi gang rape) happen due to influence of western culture," Azmi said.

Scantily-clad women attract male attention, Azmi said, adding rape cases are on the rise due to "women wearing less clothes."

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Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray while addressing a gathering in Mumbai blamed "Bihari" migrants for the recent case of gangrape of a girl in New Delhi.

"All are talking about the Delhi gangrape, but nobody is asking from where these men came. No one is asking who did this. So many cases are slapped against me (for speaking against Biharis) but no one is talking about the fact that all these rapists are from Bihar," he said, addressing a public function in suburban Goregaon Saturday night.

"The system has collapsed," Raj said.

"It has become a habit for Raj Thackeray to insult Biharis and abuse and defame them. The latest remark of Raj Thackeray is to create a bad image of Bihar," Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad reacted in Patna.

Ruling Janata Dal-United spokesperson Sanjay Singh said that Raj Thackeray should be sent to a mental hospital for treatment.

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Chhattisgarh Home Minister Nanki Ram Kanwar landed himself in a spot by saying that crimes against women were happening as their stars were in adverse positions, a remark termed as childish and vulgar by the state Congress.

"We have no answer to this rising spate of crimes against women. Stars are not in position," Kanwar told reporters in Raipur.

"Harm can come on a person if the stars are in adverse positions...We have no answer to this, only an astrologer can predict," the state home minister had said.

Kanwar's remarks came after opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh demanded dismissal of the BJP government over the issue of the alleged rape on minor inmates of a government-run residential school for tribal girls in Kanker district, which came to light following a complaint on Saturday.

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A newspaper report had quoted Chhattisgarh State Women Commission Vibha Rao, while commenting on the Delhi gangrape incident, as saying that women were equally responsible for sexual assault against them and they should avoid wearing provocative clothes.

A few days later Rao denied making any such statement, alleging that the paper had misquoted her remarks.

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Khap Panchayats in Haryana opposed the demand for death penalty for rapists, saying such laws can be misused.

Sube Singh, a Khap leader in Haryana's Hisar district, said: "Amending the law and introducing death penalty for the rapists can also lead to negative consequences. People think that rapists should be hanged but if such amendments are introduced in the act, then there are many fake cases of rape will come up and this law would be misused in those cases.

"But the incident that has happened in Delhi is very brutal, which led to the death of the girl, for such cases we have the provision of Section 302, under which all the accused rapists can be awarded death penalty," added Sube Singh.

Following widespread criticism, Sube said a day later, "Hanging of rapists in certain gruesome cases was alright."

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CPI-M leader Anisur Rahman passed extremely obscene remarks against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while addressing a rally in North Dinajpur district.

"We have told the chief minister in the assembly that the government will pay money to compensate rape victims. What is your fee? If you are raped, what will be your fee?" Anisur had said on December 25.

A few days later Rehman publicly apologised for his obscene remarks, sating, "I apologise for the indecent and unparliamentary comments I had made against chief minister at a meeting at Itahar in North Dinajpur district," adding, "I had apologised earlier in a statement but now I am apologising publicly."

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After RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's remarks that rapes were prevalent in India and not in Bharat, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad blamed the 'western model' of lifestyle for growing incidents of sexual assault on women including rape, saying cities were losing the values.

VHP International Advisor Ashok Singhal termed as "alarming" the western model of living, which he said had been imbibed from the US.

"This western model is alarming. What is happening is we have imbibed the US.

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In a remarakably regressive move, the Puducherry government has reportedly suggested redesigning of school uniforms to make it mandatory for girl students to wear overcoats to prevent sexual crimes.

"The meeting resolved to introduce overcoats for girl students, operate special buses for them and ban mobile phones in schools. Our government is committed to ensuring safety of women, particularly girl students," school education minister T Thiagarajan had said.

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Women who 'breach their moral limits' deserve punishment.

Or so believes Madhya Pradesh Industry Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, whose statement has left the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party utterly red-faced.

The senior BJP leader had stated, "Ek hi shabd hai -- Maryada. Maryada ka ulanghan hota hai, toh Sita-haran hojata hai. Laxman-rekha har vyakti ki khichi gayi hai. Us Laxman-rekha ko koi bhi par karega, toh Rawan samne baitha hai, woh Sita-haran karke le jayega".

("There's only one word -- Limit; If you cross the limit, you face the same treatment that Sita faced in the Ramayan. If you cross the Laxman-rekha, Ravan will kidnap you like Sita.")

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In a bizarre response to wide-spread protests against the Delhi gangrape, Abhijit Mukherjee , Congress leader and son of President Pranab Mukherjee, had stated, "Those who are coming in the name of students in the rallies, (they are) sundori, sundori mahila (beautiful women), highly dented and painted".

He went on to add, "Giving interviews on TV and showing off their children. I wonder whether they are students at all. What's basically happening in Delhi is something like the pink revolution, which has very little connection with ground realities".

Women who are "beautiful, painted, dented, go to discos, give interviews," are not particularly serious about the protests for which they have come out on the streets.

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When Andhra Pradesh Congress chief Botsa Satyanarayana learnt about the Delhi gangrape incident, the only question that came to his mind was: "Why was she roaming outside late in the night?" 

Satyanarayana shared more nuggets of wisdom, "Do we roam in streets at midnight as we got Independence at midnight? It would have been better if the girl did not travel by a private bus at that time".

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Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, a Trinamool Congress MP, insinuated that the victim of the Park Street rape case was, in fact, a prostitute.

Reacting to the incident with great sensitivity and understanding, Ghosh Dastidar said, "If you are referring to the Park Street rape, see that is a different case altogether, that was not at all a rape case. It was a misunderstanding between the two parties involved...between a lady and her client. This was not a rape."

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