Unfazed by uproar, Azmi stands firm on rape comment

Despite the outrage in the country and criticism by his own family, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi has refused to withdraw or apologise for his statement that women were to be blamed for the increasing number of rape cases.

Despite the outrage in the country and criticism by his own family, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi has refused to withdraw or apologise for his statement that women were to be blamed for the increasing number of rape cases.

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“Why should I apologise? Whatever I said is right and in tune with my thinking,” he said to the media on Friday.

Azmi had said earlier this week that rapes happened ‘where semi-clad women are allowed to roam freely in the cities,’ and that it was ‘fashionable for women in the cities to flaunt a boyfriend’. “The free movement of such couples should be banned under the new law that would be made to tackle rapes,”Azmi had said.

He had also demanded the death penalty for consensual sex between unmarried men and women.

His son Farhan and daughter-in-law actor Ayesha Takia Azmi had disowned these observations, with Farhan even

apologising on behalf of his father.

“They [Farhan and Ayesha] are free to have their own opinions. But I stand by what I say,” Azmi said.