KASARGOD: In a statement that could trigger another round of controversy, Kerala Excise Commissioner Rishiraj Singh said women should first give "two tight slaps" to their stalkers, and the legal implications can be taken care of later.
He was replying to a question by a schoolgirl on whether the present laws were adequate to protect women, at Government Higher Secondary School, Udinur, near Trikaripur, on Tuesday. He told the girl that first give two tight slaps and then go to police.
Addressing a campaigning against drugs and liquor in the school, Singh said there used to be a time when parents used to hug their children before they go to school and when they returned. "Today, that practice is absent," he said.
Hugging used to keep the bonding between parents and children intact. It was also a time parents could smell their children and find out if they were using tobacco, liquor or drugs, he said.
On August 15, in another interactive programme in Kochi, the top officer said a case can be charged against a man who annoyingly stared at a woman for 14 seconds. He said not a single such case has been registered so far in Kerala.
To be sure, there is no such law and Singh was criticised and trolled for making such a statement.
In the same event, he said women and girls could use pepper spray to ward off anti-social elements and can be effectively used for self-defence. He called up on women to report and follow up on crimes committed against them.