After UP Molestation, Samajwadi Party Leader Azam Khan's Shocking Advice To Women

Rampur: Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan today had shocking advice for women: To avoid rapes and molestation, women should stay home. The former minister's advice comes as an appalling video of 14 men molesting two women in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur is doing the rounds in social media. The clips, reportedly being circulated over the last fortnight, show the men corralling the women on a narrow road. They are seen groping, pushing, pulling and abusing the women, who wail and scream and plead with the molesters. The main accused has been arrested and the police say they are looking for more people involved in the incident.

The Samajwadi Party, which was swept out of power by the BJP in the recent assembly elections in the state, has been hawkish on the law and order issue since. Its leaders, including former Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, has attacked the Yogi Adiyanath government repeatedly over what he had called 'lawlessness' in the state.

But today, Mr Khan said the Rampur videos were nothing to be surprised at, since there have been many "rapes, murders and robberies under the new government". "After the Bulandshahr gang-rape case, people should ensure that women of their house stay indoors as much as possible... Girls should also avoid places where such shameful acts happen,"  he said.

The reference was to the shocking gang-rape of a 14-year-old girl and her mother in Bulandshahr last year in July. At the time, Mr Khan had bizarrely suggested it could be a "political conspiracy" to defame the then Akhilesh Yadav government. Later, the Supreme Court asked him to submit an unconditional apology for his statement after the teen appealed to the court.

Earlier too, Mr Khan has been panned by activists for his controversial comments. In October 2015, Mr Khan had caused a furore by blaming cellphones for the increasing number of rapes. The younger generation, he had said, were misusing cellphones.