NEW DELHI: In India, it seems like there is no dearth in the number of political leaders and other public speakers who have made it their sole purpose to comment in a dastardly fashion about rape.At a time when survivors of rape (which includes those targeted by the attackers and their family) have to deal with numerous problems such as social censure, delayed justice and trauma (psychological and physical), these comments also add salt to their wounds.From talking about how rape is finally, the fault of the victim, to claiming that ‘boys will be boys’, these people seem to be hell bent on pushing India back to the dark ages.Here is a list of leaders whose comments on rape and women are nothing short of being repulsive:On Saturday, the minister had to say the following thing about rapes: “koi jan bujhkar nahi karta, dhoke se ho jata hai dushkarm" (no one commits rape intentionally. It happens by mistake. The ministere here, seems to clearly saying that those who commit rapes actually don’t intend to do so and that these crimes happen for a reason ‘not known’.Only Babulal Gaur can understand what he meant by saying that no one but God can stop rapes. He went to absolve government machineries such as the police of any responsibility when it comes to curbing the incidence of rapes. “I said police cannot deter rapes, but can take action only after it has been reported. Rapes occur within closed doors or in isolated places. Without prior information, how can police prevent crime?”The SP supremo’s comment that “boys will be boys”and that they “make mistakes”should go down in history as the example of a leader who has little or no concern about the like-altering consequences of rape. Addressing a rally in Moradabad, Mulayam had said that, “Rape accused should not be hanged. Men make mistakes.” He had added that, “When their friendship ends, the girl complains she has been raped.”Although UP’s chief minister did not say anything directly condescending about plight of rape survivors and victims, he did showcase his insensitivity when reacting to the recent case of gang rape and murder of 2 dalit sisters in Badaun. Questioned by reporters over the inexcusable rise in violence against women in Uttar Pradesh, an edgy Akhilesh Yadav on Friday shot back at the journalists, "Aapko toh khatra nahin hua? (it's not as if you faced any danger?)."Badaun: The site where the two women were found hangingYadav, who is also Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son said that the media was tarnishing the image of the country, and UP in particular, by blowing the Badaun gang rape and murder case out of proportion. He also blamed television for bringing vulgarity into homes and "polluting young minds". He also insisted that, “UP was being targeted in a calculated manner”.Another Samajwadi party leader and father-in-law of actor Ayesha Takia, Abu Azmi had gone to the extent of saying that those women who get raped should be hanged and also that just because by virtue of the fact that married women have extramarital sex (when they get raped!), they should be punished along with the rapist. "Rape is punishable by hanging in Islam. But here, nothing happens to women, only to men. Even the woman is guilty." Azmi’s solution to rape is, "Solution is this: any woman if, whether married or unmarried, goes along with a man, with or without her consent, should be hanged. Both should be hanged. It shouldn't be allowed even if a woman goes by consent."The president’s son is the one who made the phrase ‘dented-painted’ famous. By ‘dented-painted’Abhijit Mukherjee was making a reference to the women who had come out in large numbers to protest the gruesome and horrific gang rape that took place on December 16, 2012. He had said that these, “sundari, sundari mahila" (pretty, pretty women) at the agitation, "walking on the streets with candle", were not students. Students, he said, were different.According to RSS supremo Mohanrao Bhagwat rapes occur only in the cities and not in rural India (various statistic point to the fact that 75% of all rapes take place in rural India). "You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gang-rape or sex crimes. They are prevalent in some urban belts. Besides new legislations, Indian ethos and attitude towards women should be revisited in the context of ancient Indian values," Bhagwat had said.(Women lawyers protest outside the Kerala high court in Kochi against the rape bid on an Uttar Pradesh judge in her Aligarh home)The claim of a Anglo-Indian woman that she was raped in a car in a posh locality in Kolkata was met by the following comment from West Bengal’s chief minister which hinted that the case from " sajano ghotona (concocted incident) to malign the government".The seer clearly holds ‘western culture’ responsible for rapes. “There is need to change this. Before Independence we were able to maintain our culture and values but in the last 65 years we have lost a great part of it. Such horrific incidents don’t happen all of a sudden. They happen when the thin line of culture and values are crossed in the name of civilization and development.