In a shockingly insensitive comment, Uttar Pradesh politician Mulayam Singh Yadav has questioned the death sentence of three men who were convicted of two gang-rapes in Mumbai. "Do rape cases be punished with hanging? They are boys, they make mistakes."
Mr Yadav also implied that the photojournalist went to the police because of "differences with the men."
"Boys, and girls ....later they had differences, and the girl went and have a statement that I have been raped. And then the poor fellows, three of them have been sentenced to death. Should rape cases lead to hanging? They are boys, they make mistakes .Two or three have been given the death sentence in Mumbai. We will try and change such laws..... we will also ensure punishment of those who report false cases," he said today in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, the state his Samajwadi Party has governed since 2012.
Mr Yadav has promised in his party's manifesto to check "the large-scale misuse" of the tougher anti-rape law introduced after the fatal gang-rape of a young woman on a moving bus in Delhi.
Archaic laws were over-hauled after that crime incensed India in December 2012. Convicts can get the death penalty for sexual crimes if the victim dies. For egregious cases, a life sentence will be imposed. Fast-track courts have been set up to deal with sexual crimes.
When the new laws were proposed in Parliament, Mulayam Singh Yadav's party had objected to features including stalking being made a criminal offence, arguing that they could be twisted to implicate men in fake case.
"There is a large scale misuse of laws including anti-dowry, SC/ST (atrocities prevention) act and the new anti-rape law that came into existence after 'Nirbhaya' rape case...SP is in favour of implementing them strictly and at the same time will initiate strict action against those misusing them," the party's manifesto said.
Mulayam's shocker on rape: Boys make mistakes, why hang them? | NDTV.com