Bengaluru: Karnataka Home Minister KJ George on Friday stirred a controversy by making an irresponsible statement that two men raping a woman is not gangrape.

George said, “How can you call it a gangrape? A gangrape is when four-five people are involved. We should condemn the people who did such an act.”

However, Mr George chose to apologize and said that his statement should not be misunderstood by people and media.

The controversial remarks came after media sought a response from George in alleged gangrape of a 22-year-old call centre employee by two men at knife point in their moving van after they offered to ferry her home.

The woman was waiting to hail a bus to return to her PG home and boarded the van which stopped by offering her a drop, City Police NS Megharikh said.

The woman, who hails from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, was allegedly gangraped on the night of October 3 by the vehicle driver and the cleaner, Megharikh said, adding the victim was taken to a deserted spot before she was dropped in Madiwala area here.

Police said for nearly three hours, the two men drove around deserted places of the Madivala area and raped the woman.

Condemning the statement, National Commission of Women Chairperson Lalita Kumarmangalam said, “Karnataka Minister is another example of someone not understanding issue of violence against women yet commenting on the matter thoughtlessly. Leaders in public life, especially those from political parties should think before talking. We will send him a suo moto, let’s see how he replies.”

The incident has come as a grim reminder of the 2012 gangrape of a paramedical student in Delhi, who later died, triggering a massive outrage across the nation.

Earlier, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh had blamed girls for being raped. “First girls develop friendship with boys. They when differences occur, they level rape charges. Boys will be boys, they commit mistakes. Will they be hanged for rape,” he had said.

In another controversial statement, the SP chief had remarked that “four boys cannot rape a girl. It is impossible. One commits rape and then four more are named.”

(Agencies)