Home Minister of Madhya Pradesh says porn behind rising cases of rape
A minister in Madhya Pradesh's BJP government is pitching for a ban on porn, which he thinks is the reason behind the rise in
sexual assault on women and children.Bhupendra Singh, the state home minister, said he is considering a ban on porn to check rape and molestation cases. "We think the reasons for the rising number of child rape and molestation cases are porn. We are contemplating of banning porn in Madhya Pradesh, will approach the centre in the matter," he told news agency ANI.
Several people on Twitter took potshots at the minister's remarks and also tagged videos of three lawmakers of the BJP caught watching porn on their phones in the Karnataka assembly in 2012.The three Karnataka BJP lawmakers, Lakshman S Savadi, CC Patil and J Krishna Palemar, had to resign as ministers after the video clip of them watching porn made headlines. But their rehabilitation was swift. They were party candidates in 2013 and this time too, they have been scored a place on the list of BJP candidates contesting the May 12 elections.
The
government is on the backfoot amid nationwide anger after a spurt in child rapes this year. It started with the gang-rape, torture and murder of an eight-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua in the first week of January. The girl was kept in a local temple, drugged, starved and raped repeatedly before being killed.