President Pranab Mukherjee's son calls anti-rape protesters 'dented, painted'

NEW DELHI: Abhijit Mukherjee, the son of President Pranab Mukherjee, courted controversy on Thursday when he said the recent protests in the capital over the gang rape of a 23-year-old in a moving bus did not appear to involve students.

"What's basically happening in Delhi is a lot like Egypt or elsewhere, where there's something called the spring revolution. Women who are participating in candlelight vigils and those who are protesting have no connection with ground reality. These pretty ladies coming out to protest are 'highly dented and painted, they're giving interviews on TV, they've brought their children to show them the scenes. I have grave doubts whether they're students, because women of that age are generally not students'," he said in an interview in West Bengal.

His sister, Sharmishta later apologized. "If he has said this, I apologize on his behalf. As a family, we do not agree with his remarks."

Abhijit Mukherjee contested his parliamentary seat Jangipur in Bengal and won by a slender margin.

Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Delhi gang-rape victim was admitted on Thursday morning to the Mount Elizabeth Hospital's intensive care unit in Singapore in an extremely critical condition. The country is witnessing widespread protests over the incident with protesters demanding a more effective legal system and better safety in the capital, known as one of the least safe cities in the world for women.

Over the weekend, protests in Delhi turned into violent clashes with the police; a constable trying to control the crowd died of his injuries.

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President Pranab Mukherjee's son calls anti-rape protesters 'dented, painted'