Comments
The Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra unit chief Abu Azmi on Tuesday said that though it was the duty of police to ensure safety of women, women should not forget that “security starts at home”, and that partying late night was not Indian culture.
Azmi was responding to queries regarding the alleged harassment of women in Bangaluru during the New Year’s eve.
“Partying late night in half attire, blindly following Western culture, has never been our culture. Ladies hailing from well-to-do families — be it from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan or UP — come out in decent attire, mostly with their family,” he said.
“I am saying what happened is very unfortunate. Undoubtedly, making security arrangement to thwart any eventuality is police’s job. But, as far as the Bengaluru molestation is concerned, women and their guardians must also take precautions,” Azmi told news agency PTI.
“But when few women in half-dress come out on streets at late night with their friends, such incidents do occur,” said Azmi, an MLA from Shivaji Nagar in suburban Mumbai.
New Year revelry turned into a nightmare for several women who were allegedly molested despite huge police presence at a large gathering at Bengaluru’s downtown region, sparking widespread outrage.
“Women are the pride of our family and country. Therefore, it is our duty to safeguard them. If we allow them to follow western culture blindly, then I am sorry to say that people will misbehave them in such ways,” the SP leader said.
Azmi also defended Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara who had stoked a controversy by blaming the youngsters’ “western ways” for the incidents.
“He (Parameshwara) said the harsh reality. These kind of things do happen when women try to copy the westerners, not only in their mindset but even in their dressing,” he said.
Eyewitness accounts suggest that women were molested and groped and lewd remarks were also passed by miscreants late night on December 31 in a posh area of Bengaluru even as it was claimed that 1,500 police personnel had been deployed to control the crowds.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.