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A so-called “spiritual leader” threw more verbal gasoline on the raging fire over the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman, saying the victim was “as guilty as her rapists” for the Dec. 16 attack.
Self-styled swami Asaram Bapu said Jyoti Singh Pandey should have “taken God’s name and could have held the hand of one of the men and said, ‘I consider you as my brother.’”
Pandey died from her injuries two weeks later — but that apparently wasn’t enough for Bapu.
"The victim is as guilty as her rapists,” he said. “She should have called the culprits brothers and begged before them to stop. ... This could have saved her dignity and life,” the 71-year-old spiritualist said, according to Indian papers.
Bapu, who was speaking at a religious conference, also reportedly said Pandey could have saved herself by praying and chanting.
“The six were drunk. If the girl had chanted hymns to Goddess Saraswati and to Guru Diksha then she wouldn't have entered the bus,” Bapu said.
His remarks stunned political and cultural leaders in India, where the Pandey case has drawn international sympathy and focused national attention on the country’s pervasive sexual violence.
A leading political party condemned Bapu’s comments as “regrettable, deeply disturbing and painful,” local papers reported.
A spokeswoman for Bapu later tried to clarify his mean-spirited talk.
“He was only suggesting that women should try their level based to come out from such situation by using diplomatic ways,” spokeswoman Niam Dubey told Asian News International.
She insisted Bapu’s words had been misinterpreted, even as she admitted he’d made the offensive remarks.
“Yes, he said that the girl had made a mistake by taking an empty bus in night. If she had taken ‘Matra-Diksha,’ the God has might save her anyhow,” Dubey said.
Five of Pandey’s alleged attackers were formally charged with abduction, gang rape and murder Monday. The sixth suspect, 17, was charged in a juvenile court separately.
Reporters and photographers were barred from the courtroom as the charges were read Monday. The attack has triggered weeks of protests and forced the government to address demands for swifter justice, safer streets and heavier sentences in rape cases.
