Rapes occur in 'India', not in 'Bharat': RSS chief

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat created a flutter when he said rape is mainly prevalent in urban India due to western influence and that such crimes against women do not happen in rural areas of the country.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat created a flutter when he said rape is mainly prevalent in urban India due to western influence and that such crimes against women do not happen in rural areas of the country.

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The remark that came against the backdrop of the Delhi gangrape incident was slammed by the Congress, CPI-M and women's bodies while the BJP and RSS defended it saying the comment should be taken in proper perspective.

Bhagwat claimed that the incidents of rape were the result of adoption of western culture in society as a whole and that erosion of traditional Indian values were more pronounced in urban areas.

"Crimes against women happening in urban India are shameful. It is a dangerous trend. But such crimes won't happen in Bharat or the rural areas of the country. You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gangrape or sex crimes," he said at a meeting in Silchar in Assam recently.

Demanding that the government take appropriate action to stop rape incidents, he said RSS will support any government initiative to change existing laws.

"Bhagwat neither understands India nor Bharat," CPI-M leader Brinda Karat said.

Karat said government statistics of atrocities on women and sexual assault showed that the maximum number of victims belong to the poor, dalit and tribal communities.

National Commission of Women(NCW) chief Mamta Sharma said Bhagwat should stop differentiating in terms of geography.

"We are all Indians. We are all citizens of India...Go to grassroots level and see what is the condition of the women there," he said.

RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav said the RSS chief's statement should be taken in proper perspective.

"He has condemned the heinous crime of assaulting women, rape against women and he said it is an utterly wrong thing and that people who indulge in such things must be punished," he added.