Mulayam sticks to his remark

New Delhi: Even as he faces flak over his comment defending rapists, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has refused to back down. "What have I said? What is incorrect in my statement?" he asked, proceeding to say that there is a debate the world over on death penalty. "There should be no capital punishment. The innocent should not be punished," he said. The Election Commission has sought a CD of the speech in which Mulayam made the remarks. He has also been slammed by his rivals. BJP leader Smriti Irani said, "I condemn Mulayam Singh's statement and as a woman I want him to understand that I will not allow the anti-rape law to be changed." The National Commission of Women too said it will send a notice to the politician. The furore over the remark had not even reduced when another Samajwadi Party leader, Maharashtra SP chief Abu Azmi, jumped on to the retrograde wagon to say that sex out of marriage should be punished by stoning.

Islam gave death penalty to women, irrespective of whether they were raped or had consensual sex. His daughter-in-law and actor Ayesha Takia condemned the remarks, tweeting to say that she and her husband were "deeply embarrassed and ashamed" by Azmi's remarks.