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New Delhi/Jaipur: Spiritual leader Asaram Bapu was Monday reported as saying that
the Delhi gang-rape victim should have called her attackers
"brothers" and recited the Saraswati mantra to avert the tragedy.
This provoked both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP to
lash out at the comments as disturbing and condemnable.
Asaram Bapu reportedly said, "The victim is as guilty as her
rapists", adding one hand cannot clap.
The victim should have "begged" in front of the culprits, he said.
Speaking to a gathering of followers at Tonk town, some 100 km
from Jaipur, Asaram Babu said: "The five or six drunken men were
not the only ones guilty. The girl was also responsible..."
"She should have called the culprits brothers and begged before
them to stop. This could have saved her dignity and life. Can one
hand clap? I don't think so," CNN-IBN quoted Asaram Bapu as
saying.
"Had she recited the Saraswati mantra, she would not have boarded
any bus after watching a movie with her boyfriend," he said.
The comment was slammed by India's two main parties, the Congress
and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"Such comments should be condemned as much as possible," Congress
leader Sandeep Dikshit said.
He was backed by party colleague Rashid Alvi, who said: "Political
leaders, including religious leaders, must give serious thought
before they speak out."
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the comments were "regrettable
and deeply disturbing and painful".
"We expect Asaram Bapuji to kindly introspect, reflect and
withdraw the statement," Prasad said.
"I am sure he knows in the Hindu chintan (thought), woman of the
country have been accorded a place of pride and dignity. Similarly
in our constitution also, there is a clear provision of granting a
status of equality to a woman and no discrimination. In this case,
for him to make a statement in relation to a crime which has
shocked the conscience of the country... Sorry, it is not
acceptable," he said.
Asaram Bapu also said he was against stringent laws to prevent
rape. "Laws can be misused. There are several examples of misuse
of laws related to dowry harassment in our country. If the laws
against cases of rape are misused, the men will be victims."
He said he had written to the family of the Delhi gang-rape
victim. "They lost their daughter, they should consider me their
son," he said.
The 23-year-old woman was gang-raped in a moving bus on the night
of Dec 16, and brutally tortured. She died of her injuries Dec 29
in a Singapore hospital, two days after she was taken there for
treatment.
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