NEWDELHI:Finance minister Arun Jaitley was at the centre of arow over his small rape incident remark with attack being mounted on him from various quarters even as he said he had not referred to any particular case and that he had no intention of trivialising any crime. Iregret that the statement has been construed or some word that Ihave used has been construed as insensitive. That was never myintention, he said in his clarification. He was referring to his remarks made on Thursday at the annual state tourism ministers conference that one small incident of rape in Delhi, advertised world over, was enough to cost India millions of dollars in terms of global tourism. READ ALSO: ArunJaitley clarifies onsmall incident of rape comment Though he had not specified any incident, his remarks were seen to be areference to the rape and brutal assault of a23-year-old paramedic girl on December 16,2012in the capital, over which the entire country was outraged and protests were held all over. Jaitley said he has always been outspoken on issues relating to crimes, particularly those against women. Iam very sensitive to these issues myself and there is no question of trivializing any crime or any particular incident. Ihad not referred to any particular incident, he said. The minister said he had spoken in general on how crime can hurt tourism and the image of crime against women itself dissuades tourists from coming to India. Criticising Jaitleys remarks, Nirbhayas mother said, He has disappointed me. During elections they had used Nirbhayas name for political gains and after coming into power they call it asmall incident. Her father said, We are deeply hurt by what he has said. No rape is small, each rape incident is shameful for acountry and when public figures and politicians make such statements it looks so insensitive. They should remember that when they speak, not only our country but the whole world listens. Congressmountsattack onJaitley Congress leader Rashid Alvi termed as most unfortunate the remarks and said such statements reveals the thinking of the government. If any girl of the nation is raped, it is ablot on the nation. If aminister terms it as a small incident, that is most unfortunate. This shows the thinking of the government, he said.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 11:31:19 +0000
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