Bengaluru | Jagran News Desk: A massive controversy erupted in the Karnataka assembly on Thursday after senior Congress MLA and former Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar made an outrageous and sexist comment in House. However, the members of the House, including present Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, laughed off at his comments.
"There is a saying that when rape is inevitable, lie down and enjoy it. That is exactly the position which you are," Kumar said, as reported by news agency ANI.
#WATCH| "...There's a saying: When rape is inevitable, lie down&enjoy," ex Karnataka Assembly Speaker & Congress MLA Ramesh Kumar said when Speaker Kageri, in response to MLAs request for extending question hour, said he couldn't& legislators should 'enjoy the situation' (16.12) pic.twitter.com/hD1kRlUk0T
— ANI (@ANI) December 17, 2021
The senior Congress leader made the remarks when other opposition MLAs urged the Speaker to allow them to speak on rain and flood-related damages and farmers' protests in the state. However, Kageri found himself in a fix and as he wanted to wind up the discussion by 6 pm.
"I am in a situation where I have to enjoy and say 'yes, yes'. That's it. This is what I feel. I should give up controlling the situation and take the proceedings in a systematic manner, I should tell everyone to continue your talks," Kageri said, as reported by news agency PTI.
To this, Kumar made the offensive remark. However, he apologised for his statement later, saying his "intention was not trivialise or make light of the heinous crime". "I would like to express my sincere apologies to everyone for the indifferent and negligent comment I made in today’s assembly about “Rape!” My intention was not trivialise or make light of the heinous crime, but an off the cuff remark! I will choose my words carefully henceforth," he tweeted.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time when Kumar has made a controversial and sexist comment. In February 2019, Kumar - when he was the Speaker of the House - had sparked a controvery after he said that he felt like a "rape victim".
"My situation is like that of a rape victim. The rape happened just once. If you had left it at that, it would have passed. When you complain that a rape has happened, the accused is put in jail. But his lawyers ask how did it happen? When did it happen and how many times? The rape happens once but you get raped 100 times in the court. This is my condition," he had said then, as reported by India Today.