Goa MP's remarks on rape evokes protests in RS

A Congress MP from Goa on Tuesday kicked up a storm in the Rajya Sabha for his remarks which suggested that some rape victims invited trouble on themselves by socialising with "strangers" even during late hours.

A Congress MP from Goa on Tuesday kicked up a storm in the Rajya Sabha for his remarks which suggested that some rape victims invited trouble on themselves by socialising with "strangers" even during late hours.

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The remarks by Shantaram Naik during the Zero hour angered the opposition, especially the women members, for saying that a rape case should be treated differently if the victim is known to be moving with strangers even beyond middle of the night.

Naik's controversial remarks came when he blamed the media for highlighting the controversial case of a Russian woman working in Goa who claims she was raped earlier this month by a state politician in his car after having dinner with him.

Raising the incident, Naik said the electronic media was blowing the case out of proportions.

Naik said while rape is the most heinous crime, "...an alleged rape of a lady who moves with strangers for days together even beyond middle of the night is to be treated on different footings."

Brinda Karat (CPI-M), Najma Heptulla, Maya Singh (BJP)and Jaya Bachchan (SP) led the protests and sought intervention of the Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan saying Naik should not be allowed to speak the language which, they said, was derogatory to women.

Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP) said it appeared that Naik was "justifying" rape.

Khan asked the Goa MP to submit his Zero Hour text for examination and said the member was going beyond the subject he wanted to raise.

Blaming the electronic media, Naik said, "If we go by electronic media coverage of recent times..., it appears that nothing happens except incidents of rape."