A day after Samajwadi Party chief Mulyam Singh Singh put his foot in his mouth when he said that “boys do make mistakes” but handing out them capital punishment for rape was “unfair,” his party’s senior Maharashtra leader Abu Azmi struck more insensitive chord, saying that a girl or woman indulging in consensual sex with a man outside marriage should be hanged.
“Obviously. No parents in our Indian culture would agree if their daughter goes out with another man and indulges in something wrong. But, as per Islam, if a girl does it, she will be hanged. Similarly if there’s rape of a girl, then the rapist should be hanged. Again as per Islam, if boy and girl go to a hotel, have consensual sex and when their wrong-doing comes to light, both of them should be banned (from the community) and punished… As per Islam, both girl and boy should be hanged till death,” Azmi said here on Friday.
Azmi’s statement came as part of an interview published in a leading afternoon city tabloid in the morning and later in the day he made similar remarks in his interaction with the television channels.
Azmi’s remarks sparked widespread angry reactions in the social media. His son Farhan Azmi, who is contesting the lok Sabha polls as a SP nominee sitting Congress MP from Mumbai north-central constituency, and daughter-in-law Ayesha Taikia made no bones about their embarrassment over the family patriarch’s controversial remarks.
Distancing herself and her husband from Sr Azmi’s remarks, the model-turned-actress Taikia tweeted: “If wot I am reading about my father in laws statements r true then me and Farhan are deeply embarrassed n ashamed... We surely do nottt share this mindset...its disrespectful to women. if these statements are true then its sad”.
Angry reactions poured in on the social media. “He should be immediately arrested shocking — Women having sex should be hanged, says Abu Azmi,” Filmmaker Onir tweeted.
Actor-director Farhan Akhtar, who launched the social campaign Men Against Rape and Discrimination (MARD) after the December 16, 2012 Delhi gang-rape, tweeted: “Cannot get over Yadav’s comment on rapists — ‘Boys will be boys. They make mistakes’. It’s pathetic. Abu Azmi meanwhile, wants to hang women who willingly have sex. I think he needs to hang up his boots & seek medical attention ASAP”.
Actor Arjun Rampal tweeted: “The comments by our political giants on rape victims are downright appalling. let those boys make the same mistakes on their mothers and sisters.” Meanwhile, Farhan Azmi went on a tweeting spree, seeking to damage control the situation.