"Hundreds of girls are being butchered by men and he (Mulayam Singh) finds them small mistakes which need not be punished! What does he mean by mistake?" a fuming Rathore asked IANS.
The family of the Aashiana rape victim, a 13-year-old who was abducted, tortured and brutally gang-raped in 2005, where justice is yet to be done even after about a decade, also finds Mulayam Singh's statement completely "obnoxious".
"Such words do no justice to any cause, rather add to our suffering," said a family member of the girl who was sexually assaulted by a minor from a "powerful" family a decade ago in Lucknow.
Anju Singh, the Trinamool Congress candidate from Rae Bareli, called the statement "one that reflects moral bankruptcy".
Reshu Bhatia, director of women's rights group Stree movement, too is at her wits' end trying to decipher the explanation offered by Mulayam Singh that he had meant that innocent people being framed by girls should be spared.
