Days after NCW chairperson Mamata Sharma's remarks on the way women should dress drew criticism, a Madhya Pradesh minister has said the safety of women and respect accorded to them depend on what they wear and how well they behave.
"Women's fashion, lifestyle and conduct should be in accordance with Indian culture...women should not wear clothes which provoke others (to misbehave with them)," Madhya Pradesh industries minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said here on Friday.
"Women should dress in such a way that they invoke respect in others. However, unfortunately women are dressing provocatively, which is leading to deviation in society," he said referring to the infamous Guwahati molestation incident.
A 17-year-old girl was molested on July 9 by a mob of nearly 40 people when she came out of a bar in the busy GS road in Guwahati.
Reacting to the incident, the NCW chairperson had said women should be careful about the way they dress because such incidents are a result of blindly aping the West.
"After 64 years of freedom, it is not right to give blanket directions and say don't wear this or don't wear that. Be comfortable, but at the same time be careful about how you dress," she had said.