Women crossing Laxman-rekha will be punished: BJP leader

Madhya Pradesh Industry Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya seems to have become the next moral police after the likes of Abhijeet Mukherjee who commented that ‘dented and painted’ women were protesting against the brutal gangrape in the Capital. The Cabinet minister has stirred controversy by suggesting that if women breach their moral limits, they ask for punishment.

“Ek hi shabd hai - Maryada. Maryada ka ulanghan hota hai, toh Sita-haran ho jata hai. Laxman-rekha har vyakti ki khichi gayi hai. Us Laxman-rekha ko koi bhi par karega, toh Rawan samne baitha hai, woh Sita-haran karke le jayega. (One has to abide by certain moral limits. If you cross this limit you will be punished, just like Sita was abducted by Ravana),” Kailash Vijayvargiya said.

However, such remarks from Indian politicians are not new. Aspersions are cast on the character of victims of sexual harassment repeatedly. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had dismissed the Park Street rape as a CPM conspiracy against her. One of her party leaders Kakoli Ghosh recently remarked that the incident was not a rape, but a “misunderstanding” between the woman “and her clients”.