'WESTERN DRESSES' ARE TO BE BLAMED FOR SEX ATTACKS -INDIAN MINISTER

   

An Indian minister faced a severe backlash Tuesday after he criticized women for dressing “like westerners” at a New Year’s eve celebration where a mob allegedly carried out a series of sex assaults. 

Although police have yet to charge anyone in connection with the violence on Saturday night in Bangalore, local media have carried testimony and photos of victims cowering from their attackers or fleeing for safety. 

Police say they are now trawling through CCTV footage to see if they can identify any of the attackers. But a minister with responsibility for policing in the southern state of Karnataka, whose largest city is Bangalore, said the “unfortunate” attacks were a consequence of women wearing western clothing. 

“A large number of youngsters gathered — youngsters who are almost like westerners,” Karnataka’s Home Minister G Parameshwara told The Times Now television network, speaking in English. 

“They try to copy westerners not only in mindset, but even the dressing, so some disturbance, some girls are harassed, these kind of things do happen.” Parameshwara, who later claimed to have been misquoted, was widely condemned for his televised comments, with the central government’s junior home minister Kiren Rijiju describing them as “irresponsible”.

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