Dec 16 victim's father condemns Mulayam's remark

The father of the Dec 16 rape victim Friday condemned the outrageous remarks of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and urged people not to elect such a leader as he does not "honour" women.

In the remark that raised a storm, Yadav Thursday said the death penalty in rape cases was "unfair" as boys make "mistakes".

"Yadav failed to provide security to women in his governance. If he would have thought of providing security to women, he would have never given such kind of statement," the victim's father told IANS.

"He is talking nonsense," the father said about the statement given by former Uttar Pradesh chief minister at an election rally in Moradabad, where Yadav said that if his party leads the central government, he would change the law.

"The main point is that he has no honour for women. I appeal to the public not to elect such kind of leaders. Specially, I appeal to the women not to vote for such leaders," said the father of 23-year-old victim, who was brutally gang raped by six men in the national capital in a moving bus. She later succumbed to her injuries in a Singapore hospital where she was airlifted for specialised treatment.

Four men have been awarded death sentences in the case, one committed suicide in jail and one was a juvenile who was separately tried and confined to a remand home for three years.