Generalised remarks on rape hurting India's image, says George

Home Minister K J George said back-to-back generalised statements in the West on the incidents of rape in the country were portraying India in poor light.

He was referring to the controversy surrounding a German professor denying internship to a male Indian student in the University of Leipzig and the screening of the Nirbhaya documentary by the BBC.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday while interacting with party workers at the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office here, George objected to both the incidents and said, “Just because there are 1,500 rapists (approximate number of cases filed) in the State, the entire population of six crore in Karnataka cannot be called rapists. This is not acceptable.”

He said the media should not report only issues pertaining to isolated cases and forget the good work done by the police in apprehending the culprits in several other cases.

He said the department had proposed a hike in the holiday allowance for the police personnel in the State. He said police personnel had to work overtime and forgo their leave because of the increasing number of communally tense processions and rallies that were held in the State.

“To offset such communally provocative rallies in Shivamogga and other places, we have been trying to rope in as many police personnel as possible from nearby jurisdictions. This has caused a lot of worry among our personnel as their leaves were cancelled. The department has proposed that the holiday allowance be further increased for the police,” he said. He said the government had already increased the holiday allowance for cops from Rs 100 to Rs 200.