An Indian state minister has come up with a controversial way to shine the light on the country’s long-standing issue of domestic violence.

Gopal Bhargava, India’s minister for social justice, handed out 700 wooden paddles to newly-married women at a recent mass marriage ceremony in Madhya Pradesh, central India.

Bhargava told the women that if their drunken husbands did not desist their advances after being told “no,” they should beat them away with the paddle.

The bats, known in Hindi as “mogri” and traditionally used to beat dirty laundry, were engraved with phrases including “police won’t intervene” and “for beating drunkards.” Bhargava says they are now “multipurpose.”

Speaking to the AFP, Bhargava said he wanted to highlight the abuse women in rural areas were facing from alcohol-fueled husbands. “Women say whenever their husbands get drunk they become violent. Their savings are taken away and splurged on liquor,” he said.

“If a family gets 100 rupees, and then at least 50 rupees are spent on the alcohol.”

Bhargava said the wooden paddles are not intended to provoke women or instigate them to violence, rather “the bat is to prevent violence.”

He added: “You can use it below the belt.”

As well as the 700 paddles distributed at the wedding, Bhargava has ordered 10,000 to be distributed to recently married women and their family members.

While liquor is not banned in Madhya Pradesh, the Indian government is increasingly regulating alcohol consumption across the country.

Four states in India have some type of alcohol ban in place. In April, the Supreme Court banned all shops from serving alcohol within 1,600 feet of major roads, according to CNN. The country also regularly enacts dry days when no liquor is sold, often on holidays or on the day of an election.

Crimes against women in India rose by 34% between 2012 and 2015, with more than 34,000 cases of rape reported in 2015 alone, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

In 2016, the Gulabi Gang, a women’s group “intended to punish oppressive husbands, fathers and brothers, and combat domestic violence and desertion,” launched a campaign to prevent the sale of alcohol.