Defending the rapists
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: April 11, 2014 -

'Rape is a small mistake committed by boys, for which they should not be hanged', this what politicians like Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav feels.

Addressing an election rally at Moradabad on Thursday, Mulayam Singh Yadav was quoted to have said, "Rape ke liye phaansi dena ghalat hai, ladkon se ghalti ho jaati hai, hum satta mein aaye to kanoon mein badlav karenge", which translated in English would roughly mean, 'Handing death sentence for rape is not fair... boys make mistakes... there will be changes in the law if we come to power."

Mulayam was questioning the death sentence handed out to three men who were convicted of two gang-rapes by a court in Mumbai last week.

It was the first time that rape convicts were sentenced to death in India under the provision of Section 376E of the Indian Penal Code which was brought in by the new Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.

But coming at a time when the question of women's security all over the country, specially in the backdrop of the December 16, 2012 brutal gang-rape of a paramedical student in a moving bus in the National capital, has emerged as one of the key issues in the ongoing general elections to the 16th Lok Sabha, the comment that comes from the Samajwadi Party supremo has not gone down well with many political parties, women and social activists.

Leaving aside of the outrage over the comment from the side of the political parties, women and social activists, some of whom have decried Mulayam Singh Yadav for playing 'minority politics', others called for total boycott of such political leaders by not giving a single vote in the election while some others drawn the attention of the Election Commission of India for registering an FIR by taking cognizance of the offensive statement, one thing that has come out very clear from the controversial remark is the regressive mindset of India politicians like Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has forgotten the the very fact that his own party had supported and voted for the same piece of legislation that prescribes death sentence as ultimate punishment to rapists.

If he actually feels that rape is a small mistake committed by boys and the rapists should not be handed death penalty for their 'mistakes', then what was he doing at the time of the discussion on passing of the legislation in the Parliament.

Its true that Samajwadi Party has declared in its election manifesto that if voted to power, it will check misuse of anti-rape law and more than two-thirds of the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice, but no country in the world has ever belittled the crime of rape as small mistakes committed by boys because it is one of the worst crimes that desecrate not just the physical body of the victim but also her spirit.

By describing rape as small mistakes committed by boys, Mulayam Singh has only not defended the rapists but also shown that India is no country for women as long as leaders like him live in.