Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi has defended his remark that a woman and a man entering into a sexual relationship outside marriage should be punished, before the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW). “Our religion does not allow women to have sexual relations with anyone except her husband. If a man and a woman decide to have sexual relations with consent, then both of them should be punished,” he stated in his reply submitted to the MSCW. Invoking Islam, the MLA, who appeared before the Commission on 25 April, said that a woman in an illicit relationship should be punished along with the man involved.
Azmi said that at times, the law is misused by women. “If a woman voluntarily enters into a relationship with a man, and later complains against him, it can have disastrous consequences.” However, MSCW Chairperson Sushiben Shah said it was not right on part of the SP leader to cite religion and deprive women of their rights. She said that since Azmi has raised a religious matter, she would examine and act accordingly.