K'taka woman MLA defends Home Minister's comments on gang rape victim

Bengaluru, Aug 27 : Karnataka BJP lawmaker Poornima Srinivas on Friday backed Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, whose comments on the gang rape victim had stirred controversy, saying that he was "concerned about the safety of women".

Srinivas, a first-time MLA, urged the media not to take his statements negatively. "I request you to take those statements positively. The minister wanted women and girls to be careful," she said.

"Generally, people observe and come to help if women are troubled. But, during nights, women will not get help. Womanisers will also wait for this opportunity and they think no one will rescue the victims. Even after puja in the temple, if you get late, you are exposed to danger," she said.

"The concept of safety should be understood by women and girls themselves. However, they are also free to go anywhere at any time, we can't stop them," she added.

Jnanendra has stated that the woman victim should not have gone to such a lonely place late in the evening.

Tourism Minister Anand Singh went to another extreme and stated Dubai model of punishments should be given in India for heinous crimes like gang rape. "However, ours is a democracy and it is not possible," he said.

Congress MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar also said that the rapists should be punished in such a way that the very thought of committing such a crime shouldn't occur to them. "They go to the extent of committing gang rape, video graph the crime and extort from the victims... they must be hanged," she said.

Former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa expressed confidence that the culprits will be arrested by Saturday and they will be taught a lesson.