Gaur defends SP govt, says rape is right sometimes

Babulal Gaur, home minister in the BJP government of Madhya Pradesh, on Thursday defended Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav over the Badaun rape case.

Calling the Samajwadi Party supremo and Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister as ‘bechare (helpless)’, Gaur said: ‘What can Mulayam and Akhilesh do (to prevent rapes)?’

Talking to reporters, Gaur said that ‘rapes happen when a man loses his mental balance’. Gaur described rape as a social crime, saying ‘sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong.’ ‘This is a social crime which depends on men and women. Sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong,’ said Gaur, the home minister responsible for law and order in BJP-run Madhya Pradesh. ‘Until there’s a complaint, nothing can happen,’ Gaur told reporters.

The BJP dismissed Gaur’s comments as an expression of his personal views, and not the party’s. Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday courted controversy after he told reporters, who sought his comments on the Badaun rape case, to focus on doing their jobs. 

Two minor girls were gang raped and hanged from a tree in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district that led to widespread criticism of the state government over crime and violence against women.

On Wednesday, Mulayam Singh snapped: ‘I am doing my job, you should do yours.’ ‘Strict action is being taken. What else can I say,’ he added. His remarks came after his son told reporters earlier that they should ‘Google’ search the number of rapes happening elsewhere in the country and stop focusing on UP.