NEW DELHI: Slammed for his comments on the Delhi gang rape victim, Ahmedabad-based godman Asaram Bapu on Tuesday dished out a range of confused responses – from denial of his remarks that she should have called the rapists her brothers to offering to apologize.

Obviously worried about the erosion of his holy man tag to that of an old man with little regard for women, Asaram, confronted by Times Now, first said the statements published in Tuesday’s TOI should not be attributed to him.

“How can I blame the girl (Nirbhaya) for the rape? I am not that cruel,” he said. “If I have done something wrong, I will apologize a thousand times.”

Addressing a gathering in Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan on Sunday, Asaram had said that the victim should have addressed the rapists as brothers and pleaded with them to spare her.

“My comments were taken out of context,” the Ahmedabad-based guru said on Tuesday. He also denied making remarks against the media earlier in the day. “Why will I call the media barking dogs? If you listen to the recordings of my satsang for half an hour, everything will be clear,” he told the TV channel. He said the “barking dogs” remark was intended for someone else.

In another sermon on Monday, Asaram said Nirbhaya shared the blame for her gang rape. “Only 5-6 people are not the culprits. The victim-daughter is as guilty as her rapists…she should have called the culprits brothers and begged before them to stop…This would have saved her dignity and life. Can one hand clap? I don’t think so,” he had said.

He was widely criticized for the comments. Fazed by that, he lashed out on Tuesday against his detractors allegedly calling the media ‘barking dogs’. “First one dog barked. Then another dog barked. Soon all the dogs in the neighbourhood started barking,” he said.

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