The All India Democratic Women’s Association strongly condemns the Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh for trivializing the serious crime of rape and gang rape in a public meeting at Moradabad yesterday, where he openly asked for condoning such heinous acts as momentary lapses.
Rape can hardly be called a “mistake” as Mr. Yadav thinks it is; more than often it is a premeditated act and an expression and assertion of power over women. It can in no way be condoned by using the old patriarchal argument that “Boys will be Boys”. Mr. Yadav’s contention that women put false charges of sexual assault on their partners in a fit of pique is equally condemnable, and echoes the highly retrograde and anti-women assertions made in the Manusmriti. The Shakti Mills case, which Mr. Yadav criticized is clearly a case of gang rape by lumpen elements who had already committed a similar crime and gotten away with it because the woman did not complain out of fear. By making such retrograde remarks, Mr. Yadav is denigrating rape survivors and downplaying the gravity of sexual assault. He is obfuscating the issue by using the ploy of the debatable application of death penalty for sexual assault.
Such statements, especially by politicians who tend to influence policy making, will only further vitiate existing gender biases in our society. In this context, AIDWA reiterates the need to frame a Code of Conduct to prevent anti women remarks by public figures.
