IANS
Lucknow

Raking up another controversy, Uttar Pradesh minister Mohamed Azam Khan told a rape victim not to try and find “popularity in such a thing of infamy and shame”.
The incident occurred during an event on Thursday in Kanpur where the woman had come to petition the urban development minister on the slow pace of the police investigation.
When the woman, allegedly raped in a moving car four months ago, met the minister seeking his help, Khan said: “If you rake up such a shameful matter, how will you have face society?”
When the woman pointed out that that the culprits were roaming free and she was receiving death threats, the minister said he was not aware of the matter.
Khan went on to say he would take a petition from “the woman creating such a ruckus” and added she had, however, “got her two minutes of fame by raking up the issue.”
The crowd began whistling and clapping at the minister’s statement, forcing the woman to beat a hasty retreat.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday lashed out at the minister for his behaviour and demanded that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav sack Khan or stand accused of supporting him.
“ Khan throughout his political career has hit headlines for all the wrong reasons. It is high time that the Samajwadi Party leadership take a call on him and clamp down on his irresponsible statements,” BJP’s state spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.
Azam Khan has always been in the news for his outrageous remarks on one subject or another and for vitriolic remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Only recently, he reportedly justified the Paris terror attacks in which 129 people were killed and hundreds injured, saying it was happening in response to the blind pursuit of the US and western powers for oil in the Middle East.
The Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal yesterday said she was shocked at Khan’s remark. She added that politicians should think of their mothers and sisters before making such insensitive statements.
Maliwal tweeted: “Politicians should exercise caution on such sensitive issues and should think of their mothers and sisters before showing insensitivity.”
She said political leaders should support a victim’s struggle for justice.
Maliwal said: “(I am) shocked by Azam Khan’s comments on a woman raped in a moving car whose husband was stabbed. How can he tell a rape victim that her struggle is publicity stunt which will bring her disgrace and she’ll not be able to show her face!”