Home Secretary rejects Bhagwat’s India, Bharat distinction remark

January 4, 2013 | National News | Written by

New Delhi, Jan 4: Union Home Secretary R.K.Singh on Friday rejected Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s contentious distinction remark that rapes occur only in urbanised and westernised India, and not in rural-dominant “Bharat”.

“There can be no basis to distinguish between rural and urban India when it comes to crimes against women,” Singh said, while rejecting Bhagwat’s view that the increased “westernisation” in Indian cities was the reason behind frequency of rape cases.

Singh was speaking on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate a Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System here.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Bhagwat had said in Assam that crimes such as rape “hardly take place in Bharat, but they occur frequently in India”.

“You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gang-rape or sex crimes. They are prevalent in some urban belts. Besides new legislations, Indian ethos and attitude towards women should be revisited in the context of ancient Indian values,” Bhagwat had told a gathering of RSS workers in Silchar, Assam.

The RSS chief’s controversial remark comes in the wake of the December 16 gang rape and subsequent death of a 23-year-old woman.

The woman was brutally gang-raped on a moving bus in South Delhi, and led to an out pouring of public anger in Delhi and in other parts of the country.

A demand was made for providing justice and safety for women through stringent anti-rape laws and more security. (ANI)