Andhra Pradesh police chief on Friday sparked a controversy by attributing increase in rape cases to women provoking men by wearing ‘flimsy and fashionable’ clothing, a view dismissed by Home Minister P. Chidambaram who said there can no policing on the choice of clothes.
Flanked by top police officers, Andhra Pradesh DGP V. Dinesh Reddy told a press conference in Hyderabad that police cannot be faulted for rise in rape cases and instead blamed women for provoking people with fashionable clothing.
"It (rise in rape cases) cannot to be attributed to failure of the police. One of the factors (for rape cases) is that the accused are getting provoked as women are getting fashionable, even in rural areas. In villages more women are wearing fashionable clothing and if one studies the crime pattern... it is one of the factors provoking the accused (towards rape)," he said.
In Delhi, Chidambaram dismissed Reddy's assertion, stating people were entitled to dress the way he or she feels and there can be no policing on choice of clothes.
"I strongly disagree with that statement. Everyone is entitled to dress the way he or she pleases as long as he or she has regards to the occasion, the place and the context. Obviously, you don't wear whole lot of clothes to play football or tennis and you don't wear swimwear and go to a cocktail party," he said.
Chidamabarm said there cannot be any kind of policing and ‘certainly not by a DG of Police’. Claiming that his comments had been misinterpreted, Reddy later said what he meant was one of the factors behind rape cases was the provocative dresses worn by women over which the police had no control.
"Also some of the prominent ladies, knowing very well what type of person DGP is, trying to react out of proportion thinking the misinterpretation as gospel truth," Reddy said in a statement following sharp reactions to his statement.