A day after a college student was gang-raped by five men in Mysuru and her friend beaten for objecting, Karnataka Home Minister on Thursday made some tone-deaf comments on the incident.
From using ‘rape’ as a synonym to political pressure and backlash, he also appeared to shame the victim and tried to put part of the responsibility on her.
While speaking to reporters on the issue in Bengaluru, Araga Jnanendra, Karnataka Home Minister, said, “The rape has happened. These Congress people are trying to rape me. They are trying to rape the Home Minister.”
Without missing a beat, he added: “A young girl like her, she (rape survivor) shouldn’t have gone there. It’s an isolated place. Firstly she should not have gone there. Then again we can’t stop people saying you can’t go somewhere. It is such an isolated place.”
A college girl was allegedly gang-raped by five men near Chamundi Hill in Mysuru late on Tuesday and the incident came to light on Wednesday. The girl and her male friend, who was assaulted by the gang, are undergoing treatment in a private hospital.
The minister said that the government and the police department have taken the gang-rape incident in Mysuru “seriously” and all efforts are on to nab the culprits. The Minister said he will himself be travelling to Mysuru Thursday to take stock of the developments and the situation there. “As (the victim) is in shock, we are not able to record her statement completely. But, police have registered an FIR and all efforts are on to trace (the culprits),” Jnanendra said.
“There is no information on any arrests so far, once arrested, it will be made known,” he said in response to a question.
The Minister said Mysuru is a tourist place which thousands of people visit, this is incident is “unfortunate” and has made us bow down our heads in shame. Responding to a question on complaints about lack of patrolling by the police might have led to such an incident, he said, he was going to Mysuru today and will hold a series of meetings with officials there on Friday as well, and try to rectify shortcomings if any.
To a question on Congress’ allegation that the law and order situation in the state has failed, Jnanendra said, it is unfortunate that they are trying to play politics over such an incident. “They are trying to get political mileage out of it. This is an inhuman deed. This is not an incident to politicise. We have to together see that such incidents don’t repeat. Was everything great during Congress rule?” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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