Ex-top cop praises Nirbhaya's mother’s physique, slammed

BENGALURU: After drawing flak for describing Asha Devi — mother of Nirbhaya whose gang-rape in New Delhi sparked nationwide outrage in 2012 — as someone with a “very nice physique”, former Karantaka director general of police HT Sangliana on Friday said that he was misquoted and that he never said what was attributed to him.

“If somebody says that I look good or young, I feel nice. Similarly, I was simply complimenting her for god’s gift to her,” Sangliana told TOI. Sangliana had made the remark at a March 9 event where Nirbhaya awards were presented to women achievers. Her parents were present at the ceremony. He had said: “When I look at her (Devi), her physique is very, very nice. How beautiful Nirbhaya could have been, if her mother is so well-made by god.”

Speaking minutes after Devi delivered an emotional speech on how nothing much had changed for women even five years after her daughter’s death, he had said: “If you happen to be so overpowered and you are unable to shout or show any physical resistance, and if it is a question of life and death, you should surrender.

Because surrendering will not take your life away, but will help in catching the culprit later on.”

Explaining what he meant a week later, Sangliana said, “These days, women are vulnerable and must be on the lookout constantly as miscreants are looking for beautiful women. If it is a life-or-death situation, then the person who is being attacked should surrender as there is a higher chance of them surviving and lodging a case with police.”

‘Nothing to defend’ D Roopa, IGP, home guards, who was among the awardees, said: “I was busy taking calls and couldn’t hear what Sangliana said. I could only figure out that he said something unusual as a woman next to me wondered aloud what he was speaking. I left early and came to know later about what he had said. There is nothing to defend. What he said was incorrect.”