Digvijaya defends Baraiya, says remarks were from a book

Bhopal: Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh on Monday defended Congress MLA from Bhander constituency Phool Singh Baraiya, whose offensive comments on rape raked up a controversy last week. The senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Singh, on Monday claimed that Baraiya quoted from a book authored by Hari Mohan Jha, the former head of the philosophy department at Patna University. Hence, if any action is to be taken, it should be against Hari Mohan Jha."He (Phool Singh Baraiya) said in very clear words that whatever he mentioned was written in a book authored by the head of the department of philosophy at Patna University," Digvijaya Singh said. "He is a Brahmin, Jha Sahab. All this is written in that book. This was not his (Baraiya's) comment. If you want to act, then act against the person who wrote the book. You are not taking action against him. The book was published by Rajkamal Prakashan. You can act against them," the former chief minister argued.Speaking to a reporter in Datia on Friday, Congress MLA Phool Singh Baraiya claimed that the mind can get distracted when seeing an extremely beautiful woman and rape can happen. "In India, the maximum number of rapes happen to women of SC, ST and OBC categories. The theory of rape is, when a man is walking down the road and he sees a beautiful, extremely beautiful woman, then his brain can get distracted and rape may happen," Phool Singh Baraiya said.He also argued, "Are there any extremely beautiful women in SC, ST and OBC? Why then are they raped? Because such instructions are given in the religious scripts."