

One of the Indian men convicted of the Delhi gang rape of 2012 has claimed that his 23-year-old victim was to blame for her sexual assault and murder in an interview for a BBC documentary to be aired on International Women's Day.

Speaking from jail, Mukesh Singh said that women who venture out at night have themselves to blame if they attract unwanted male attention.

"A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy," he said, speaking about the brutal attack against victim Jyoti Singh.

Sing also claimed that had the victim not fought back, the six-strong gang would not have beaten her with iron bars, which led to her death two weeks after the assault on a mini bus.

"When being raped, she shouldn't fight back. She should just be silent and allow the rape. Then they'd have dropped her off after 'doing her', and only hit the boy."

The Indian courts handed out death penalties to the perpetrators, otherwise rarely used in the country, as protests flared over Jyoti Singh's death.

However, Mukesh Singh appears not to be remorseful.

"You can't clap with one hand – it takes two hands," he told the BBC. "A decent girl won't roam around at 9 o'clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Boy and girl are not equal. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes. About 20 per cent of girls are good."

He added that the death penalty will make the situation more difficult for women.

"The death penalty will make things even more dangerous for girls," he said. "Before, they would rape and say, 'Leave her, she won't tell anyone.' Now when they rape, especially the criminal types, they will just kill the girl. Death."



Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:44 - GMT 06:44