Rapists do not deserve death, boys commit mistakes: Mulayam

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav Thursday said death penalty in rape cases was "unfair" as boys make "mistakes".

Speaking at an election rally in Moradabad, in Uttar Pradesh, the former chief minister told the gathering that death for rapists was not okay and if voted to power at the Centre, he will change the law.

"Ladkon se aisi galtiyan ho jaati hain to iska ye matlab nahin ki phaansi de di jaye (Boys do make such mistakes but that does not mean that they should be sent to the gallows)," he told the gathering.

Referring to the Shakti Mills rape case in Mumbai where death penalty was awarded to the rape accused, he also said that if the party was voted to power he would try to change the law and also book girls who are making false accusation of rape and lodging police complaints.

Soon after the statement, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) flayed Mulayam Singh for his "insensitive and shameful" statement.

Vijay Bahadur Pathak, state spokesman of the BJP, said the former chief minister's comments were unacceptable and very sad.

Pathak said the statement of the SP supremo comes as a shock as he was very critical of rape cases during the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party regime in the state. - IANS