Asaram Bapu, self-proclaimed Indian god-man based in Ahmedabad: “The victim daughter is as guilty as her rapists...She should have called the culprits brothers and begged before them to stop... Can one hand clap? I don’t think so...”

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat: “Such crimes won’t happen in Bharat or the rural areas of the country. Where ‘Bharat’ becomes ‘India’ with the influence of western culture, these type of incidents happen...” HT

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana: “Just because India got freedom at midnight, is it necessary for women to move on the streets at midnight?” Mint

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya: “Ek hi shabd hai - maryada. Maryada ka ulanghan hota hai, toh Sita-haran ho jata hai.” (Those who cross their boundaries, suffer the consequences.)

VHP international advisor Ashok Singhal: “This western model is alarming. Live-in relationships are not only foreign to our culture, but also hostile. Virginity was preserved, but the purity has been totally disturbed (now)..” HT

Abhijit Mukherjee, MP from West Bengal and son of India’s president Pranab Mukherjee: “I can see many beautiful women among them they were highly dented-painted - they’re giving interviews on TV..” HT

Raj Thackeray, founder and president of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena: “All are talking about the Delhi gangrape, but no one is talking about the fact that all these rapists are from Bihar. The system has collapsed..” HT

Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar: “The Park Street rape is a different case altogether. That was not at all a rape case. It was a misunderstanding between the two parties involved between a lady and her client..” HT