Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar kicked up controversy with his statement that incidents of rape can be stopped if the genitals of rapists are cut.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Monday kicked up controversy with his statement that incidents of rape can be stopped if the genitals of rapists are cut.
Pawar made these remarks while addressing a function organised by the Nationalist Congress Party’s women’s wing in Jalna. In a foot-in-the-mouth moment, Pawar said that if a ‘rascal’ does not change his ways even after repeated warnings, he should be given harsh punishment.
Reportedly, he added, “We should find a permanent solution to problems like rape. We should cut off the genitals of rapists. If this step is taken seriously and successfully, then other perverts will automatically be deterred from committing such crimes.”
Pawar is not new to such aggressive and contentious remarks. In April this year, while addressing a public meeting in Indapur, Pawar had ridiculed Bhaiyya Deshmukh, a farmer from a drought-hit region in Solapur, asking, “If there is no water in the dam, how can we release it? Should we urinate into it?” His statement had stimulated protests, forcing Pawar to make an apology.
Following his latest statements, Pawar has been slammed by Shiv Sena leaders saying that this is a shameless government. They only make tall claims to influence people but nothing is done at the ground level.
Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut also questioned that who will take up the task of cutting the rapists’ private parts?
Like most illiterate, uncivilised and uninformed people he is suggesting cutting of the genitals of the rape accused. While being the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra he couldn’t even certify the proper safety of government records strangely ruined in a fire that was allowed to rage on till all the incriminating proof against the political leaders was gutted in to the flames. These records could have confirmed the culpability of the politicians in Adarsh, Lavasa and Krishna Valley irrigation scams. Though in a civilised society such silly punishing provisions, even if coming from a highly placed minister, should find no place. The root cause of the problem is not the lack of harsh penalty but a very low rate of conviction due to the most corrupt and incompetent prosecution agency that is police.
