Rape rate is highest because women don’t wear hijab: Congress MLA in Karnataka

At a time when the hijab controversy is raging on in the country and the high court has appealed to people to maintain peace and harmony, the political leaders are making shocking statements and keeping the issue alive.

A Congress MLA in Karnataka Zameer Ahmed has made a highly irresponsible statement in which he has said that the reason behind the increase in the instances of rape is that women don’t wear hijab.

Ahmed, speaking to ANI, said, “Hijab means 'parda' (veil) in Islam. It is for hiding the beauty of girls when they come of age. Today you can see that the rape rate is the highest in our country.”

He went on and blamed women for not wearing hijab as he said, “What do you think is the reason for this? The reason is that several women don't wear hijab.”

Ahmed argued that wearing the hijab is not compulsory, only those who want to protect themselves and those who don't want to show their beauty to everyone wear it and this has been in practice for years.

Meanwhile, the matter is under adjudication in the high court and the court has asked the students not to wear anything till the matter is pending and hearing is going on.

The issue started in a college in Karnataka when some students were stopped from attending classes because they were wearing hijab. Soon, the issue was blown out of proportion and it became a national issue.

What is making the matters worse is the inflammatory and irresponsible comments from political leaders during election campaigning and public rallies.