Is there such a thing?
According to Ramsevak Paikra, the Home Minister of central Chhattisgarh state who is responsible for law and order, there is - he said late on Saturday that rapes did not happen on purpose. His words were '"Such incidents (rapes) do not happen deliberately. These kind of incidents happen accidentally," Paikra, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which also rules at the national level, told reporters.'
The remarks come days after the home minister of the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh state said rapes were "sometimes right, sometimes wrong".
Politicians also came under fire after the fatal gang-rape of a student on a moving bus in New Delhi in December 2012, a crime that angered the nation and shone a global spotlight on India's treatment of women.
In the recent election, Mulayam Singh Yadav, head of the regional Samajwadi Party that runs Uttar Pradesh, criticised legal changes that foresee the death penalty for gang rape, saying: "Boys commit mistakes: Will they be hanged for rape?" I would answer that once in prison, they may well find out what rape feels like and whether or not they are sometimes right or sometimes wrong - and probably accidental.
What chance do women have in countries where their ruling elite (not to mention the chap responsible for law and order) hold beliefs such as this?
It isn't just in India that some men view it more lightly than they should; remember Ken Clarke and his 'some rapes are worse than others' comment? Or US Republican Todd Akin, in his 2012 Senate campaign, suggesting that 'the female body can prevent pregnancy from occurring after a "legitimate rape"' - legitimate? The implication was that if a woman became pregnant, then she must have consented.
What causes some men to hold views such as this?
I fear that in countries such as India, women will continue to be raped and murdered whilst they are viewed as inferior? If their own government holds those ideas, how will things ever change?
