After outrage and a directive from the Congress leadership, former Karnataka minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan has expressed regret for his controversial statement linking rapes with women wearing the hijab.
“I get anxious & scared to see increasing atrocities & rape on women in our country. Because of this state of our society, I said that at least with burqa-hijab we may be able to prevent rapes. It was not intended to hurt or disrespect anyone. I regret it if it has hurt anyone,” Khan, the Chamrajpet MLA, said in a series of tweets.
On Sunday, Khan justified wearing of the hijab thus: “India’s rape rates are high probably because women aren’t under gosha-pardah.” This created a furore prompting Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar to ask Khan to apologise. Khan, however, had initially refused to say sorry.
Khan said his statement was based on the belief that burqa-hijab was mandated by “our ancestors as a religious practice in order to protect women”.
According to Khan, clothes are not the reason for rapes. “There are incidents of rape irrespective of what clothes women wear. The actual reason is the rapist mindset of few men. It is the men who should change their mindset,” he said.
“My opinion is that education is the only thing that protects women. If, for religious reasons, not wearing hijab prevents them from accessing education, I would want them to first get educated at least by wearing it. They will then be able to protect themselves through education,” Khan said, urging both the government and citizens to “not deny them education just because they want to wear hijab”.
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(Published 15 February 2022, 09:04 IST)
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