Panaji: Coming ahead in support of his wife Lata Dhavalikar’s comments that “following Western culture” has triggered rapes in India, Goa Minister Deepak Dhavalikar said that because she wears a saree no one has harassed her ever.

“She has lived her entire life wearing kumkum and sarees. She was never a victim of eve-teasing. That is what she must have explained to people,” said Dhavalikar.

“In the past, rape cases were less because they (women) adhered by Hindu dharma and now such cases are on the rise because of the western style of living,” added Dhavalikar, who belongs to the regional Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, which is a part of the BJP-led coalition government in Goa.

Lata, a functionary of controversial right wing organisation Sanatan Sauns on Sunday while addressing a convention urged the parents not to enroll their kids in missionary schools.

Also, she said that rapes are on rise as women are aping Western culture.

Dhavalikar had earlier courted controversy by asking a ban on bikini.

Previously another Goa minister Laxmikant Pareskar was under scanner for making irresponsible remarks and allegedly advising the protesting nurses to not stage a hunger strike under the sun as it could darken their complexion, thereby affecting their marital prospects.

http://www.pardaphash.com/news/goa-minister-backs-wifes-remark-says-aping-western-culture-rise-rape-cases/767174.html