)
Congress nominee from Amritsar and former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today expressed shock over Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's rape remarks, and said "rape is not a mistake, but a heineous crime that deserves severest punishment".
"I am shocked to read the statement of Mulayam Singh Yadav defending the rapists... Let me clarify to Yadav that rape is not a mistake, it is a heineous crime against the dignity of our daughters. It deserves the severest of punishment," Amarinder said here.
Addressing a rally in UP's Moradabad yesterday, Yadav had questioned the death penalty for rape, saying "mistakes" by boys happen sometime. "Ladke, ladke hain. Galti ho jati hai (Boys are boys. Mistakes happen sometimes)," he had said.
Amarinder said, "I am sorry to say that such statement only shows the medieval mindset of some people who though physically living in the twenty-first century are the prisoners of a mindset that belongs to the medieval ages.
"By saying that young boys commit mistakes like rape and they must not be hanged for that, Yadav has not only hurt and humiliated the dignity of our women who can be our daughters, sisters and mothers, but has ashamed us all."
His statement deserves to be condemned by one and all and he must withdraw it and tender an apology, the former Punjab Chief Minister said.
