Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti has said she ordered the public torture of “rapists” during her tenure as Madhya Pradesh chief minister, a startling admission in a country still debating harsher punishments for crimes against women. At a rally in Agra on Thursday, Bharti said she had ordered similar punishment in Madhya Pradesh -- she was CM between 2003 and 2004 -- and didn’t pay heed to police officers who said such “inhuman” punishment would be a violation of human rights. Salt should be added to their wounds so that they feel the agony of rape’ she stated. India toughened its anti-rape laws after public outrage over the December 16, 2012 gang rape but many demand the death penalty and public punishments for rape convicts to dissuade potential criminals in what is among the most unsafe countries for women in the world. The region goes to the polls on Saturday and the BJP is fighting against the SP-Congress combine and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Source: Hindustan Times February 10, 2017 10:09 UTC