Karnataka home minister K J George will be slapped a notice over his rape remark. National commission for women chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam said today that the Karnataka home minister is another example of a person who comments on violence over women without pondering over it.
"He doesn't even know what rape means and that is why he has commented like this," Kumaramangalam told the media. "We will send him a suo moto (notice), let us see how he responds," she added.
George’s insensitive remarks suggested that two men raping a woman cannot be termed as gangrape. “How can you say gangrape? Gangrape means four-five people,” George said while replying to a query on Wednesday over the gang rape of a 22-year old BPO employee by the driver and cleaner of a van in the country’s IT hub.
As he came in the line of fire with the Opposition BJP terming his remarks as “insensitive”, George today went into a damage control mode, saying “I am very sorry”.
“….a rape is a rape whether it is one person or a gang,” said George as he sought to explain away his controversial remarks.
“See public perception of the gangrape is a group of people openly raping a girl or a lady. That is a public perception, I said. It was two people involved. They were already been arrested when the question was asked (by the media), and what I feel it is condemnable heinous crime and we have taken action hands down,” he said.
Taking suo-motu cognizance, the commission for women sent a notice to George.
“We have asked for an immediate explanation, failing which he will be summoned by the commission,” NCW Chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam said.
George came under attack from BJP state leader Suresh Kumar, who said, “The home minister can’t be so insensitive ….. by giving a new definition (to gang rape).”
The minister’s remarks came after state chief minister Siddaramaiah held a meeting with top police officials over the law and order in the city, an issue that came to the fore after the gang rape incident on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
“We have already arrested the culprits. Actually nobody was condemning who have committed the crime. You have to condemn such a person,” he had said.
For hours on Saturday night, a young call centre worker in Bengaluru was raped inside a moving mini-bus at knife-point, allegedly by the driver and another man.
Two men have been arrested in the case that shamed the IT city on a day it had two important visitors - prime minister Narendra Modi and German chancellor Angela Merkel.
The 23-year-old woman, who is from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, left office on Saturday night and was waiting for an autorickshaw at around 10 pm when the private mini-bus with only a driver and a cleaner stopped and offered to take her to the city's south-east, where she stayed with her sister.
The woman reportedly got into the bus even though a friend who was with her advised her against it.
The police say for over three hours, the two men drove around deserted places of the Madivala area and raped the woman. At one point, they even stopped the vehicle and raped her.
The men allegedly dumped the woman near a temple. The woman called her sister and friends, who came to the spot and took her to the St. John's Hospital nearby. She left the hospital on Monday.
