Belagavi: Ramesh Kumar tenders apology for ‘rape’ remark in assembly

Bengaluru: Following the massive backlash for his insensitive and objectionable remarks in the Karnataka assembly, former Karnataka speaker and senior Congress MLA K R Ramesh Kumar tendered an apology and said that he would be careful with his choice of words henceforth.

Taking to Twitter, on Thursday night Kumar said, “I would like to express my sincere apologies to everyone for the indifferent and negligent comment I made in today’s assembly about “Rape!” My intention was not trivialise or make light of the heinous crime, but an off the cuff remark! I will choose my words carefully henceforth!”

Earlier in the day, Kumar during the assembly sessions had remarked that when rape is inevitable, lie down and enjoy it.

He made the remarks when Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri found himself in a fix as he was running short of time and wanted to wind up the discussion by 6 pm whereas the MLAs were insisting to extend the time.

”I am in a situation where I have to enjoy and say ‘yes, yes’. That’s it. This is what I feel. I should give up controlling the situation and take the proceedings in a systematic manner, I should tell everyone to continue your talks,” Kageri said laughing.

At this time Ramesh Kumar intervened and said, ”See, there is a saying- when rape is inevitable, lie down and enjoy it. That’s exactly the position in which you are”.

Notably, this is not the first time that Kumar courted controversy for ‘rape’ remarks. Earlier in 2019, Kumar, then Karnataka assembly speaker had compared himself to a rape survivor amid allegations of bribery charge against him.

Pointing to repeated reference to charges against him, Kumar had remarked, “My situation is like that of a rape victim. When you complain that rape has happened, accused is put in jail. But his lawyers ask how did it happen? When did it happen and how many times? Rape happens once but you get raped a 100 times in the court. This is my condition.”