Self-proclaimed spiritual Guru, Asaram Bapu was on 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 – Saraswati Vandana Mantra is an important hindu mantra that is recited for higher knowledge and wisdom. This provoked both the ruling congress and the opposition BJP to lash out at the comments as disturbing and condemnable.
Bapu reportedly said: “The victim is as guilty as her rapists.”
The victim should have “begged” in front of the culprits, he said.
Speaking to a gathering of followers at Tonk town, some 100km from Jaipur, 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 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 Bapu 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.
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 December 16, and brutally tortured. She died of her injuries on December 29 in a Singapore hospital after she was taken there for treatment. [GN]
spiritual leader indeed! If the gang knew of d sarawati mantra, they shudn’t have even tot of desecrating her atal!…or wud dey have drank to stupor if dey knew d sarawati mantra was for” higher knowledge and wisdom”?! U guys need to take d log from ya own eyes b4 u cik to talk of specks in oda pples eyes. Almost every now nd den i c posts bout Indian parents defilin dia young ”’underaged” daughters via ill motivated sex. Dey burn dia wifes for not addin salt to food…d list cud b unending…women ar reali goin tru a lot. Nobody shud talk trash of such painful&unbekumin evils!
issokay, when his daughter is caught and about to be molested, she should recite it for the rapists. mscheeeeew