Chandigarh, Oct 11: Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala today sought to clarify his remark about supporting Khaps' (panchayats) demand for allowing marriage of minor girls to avoid rapes, saying that it was only a suggestion and it was up to the government to accept or reject it.
Speaking to newspersons after meeting the Governor, Chautala said, he had demanded the convening of a special session of the assembly to discuss measures to stop rising incidences of rapes of women in the state.
The Indian National Lok Dal chief said, people learn lessons from the past.
"In the past, during the Mughal rule, families in Haryana used to marry off their daughters at a young age, so that she did not face infamy because of incidents of rape.
"The situation in Haryana today is worse than that of the Mughal empire. My remark about the khaps' demand for allowing marriage of minor girls was taken as support for the demand.
"I am neither supporting, nor opposing. It was only a suggestion, and it's up to the government to accept or reject."
Chautala said: "Only thirteen nations out of 209 countries in the world have laws which banned mariage of girls who are under 18.
"74 countries have no laws at all about the minimum age of girls for marriage. Only in China, the minimum age of marriage for girls is 20 years.
"Delhi High Court had allowed Muslim girls to marry at the age of 15 years. In that case, there should be a uniform law for the whole country", said Chautala.
Union Women and Child Development minister Krishna Tirath condemned Chautala's remarks saying that a former chief minister should not have made such comments.
"There is already a law in place banning child marriages. How can Chautala ask for marriage of minor girls? I would rather suggest that the elders in the families should give moral education to their children", said Tirath.
