Ballia, May 21: Samajwadi Party general secretary Ramashankar Vidyarthi stirred a controversy on Monday. Vidyarthi said that women should stop wearing short dresses. He also blamed internet for increasing cases of rape and molestation in the country.

Vidyarthi said, "Minor boys and girls should be barred from using mobile phones and Internet keeping in view the rising number of incidents of rape in the country,” He further added, “For preventing rapes, vulgarity should stop. We should also try to develop a brother-sister bond among youths.”

The statements passed by the general secretary of Samajwadi Party echoed with the views of his party leaders. After the reports of mass molestation of women during New Year's Eve celebrations in Bangalore last year, party leader Abu Azmi had blamed women for partying late night wearing short dresses.

Similar type of remark was passed by the then party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The former Samajwadi Party chief commenting on the rape incidents opposed capital punishment for the heinous crime. He said that the ‘boys will be boys, they will make mistakes’.  Yadav also blamed girls for developing friendship with boys and later accusing them of rape.

(With inputs from PTI)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 21, 2018 11:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).