Don't give mobile phones to girls: UP Women Commission member’s shocker on rapes

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Women's Commission member Meena Kumari stirred a controversy when suggested that girls should not be given mobile phones as it leads to sexual assaults.

The woman member allegedly said that girls should not be given mobile devices as it leads to rapes and other women-related crimes.

"Girls talks with boys and later run away with them," a media news reported the Commission member as saying. She made the controversial remarks during a public hearing of complaints related to women in Aligarh district on Wednesday.

Ms Kumari's comment was in response to a question about sharp rise in alleged rape cases in the state.

She also urged the parents especially mothers to monitor their daughters as their careless attitude leads to crimes against women.

However, the UP Women's Commission has distanced itself from Kumari's statement.

Vice-president of the Commission Anju Chaudhary termed Kumari's statement as incorrect saying depriving girls of mobile phones is not a solution to sexual violence against them.

"Instead of saying that we should not give mobile phones to girls, we should be teaching them not to chat with strangers and educate them on the safe use of mobile phones," the report quoted Chaudhary as saying.

Ms Kumari later tried to clarify her remarks saying girls from villages don't know "how to use phones in the right way." She said girls use phones to make friendship with males and then run away. She said smartphones are also being used to watch inappropriate content too.

When Kumari was questioned on how mobile phones are linked to rape, she added saying, "On a daily basis, I hear complaints of at least 20 women and 5-6 cases are related to friendships on phones and its fallouts. In some cases, girls were lured and then sexually abused." (UNI)