By Newsgram Staff Writer

The ministers from Goa have some panache for making absurd statements regarding the safety of women in the country. This was proved right, yet again after Deepak Dhavalikar, Goa Factories Minister made a statement that rapes incidents are fueled by the way women dress.

Defending his wife's controversial statement of accusing western culture for the rise in number of assaults against women, Dhavalikar today said, "The way people dress today, fuels incidents of rape".

Earlier, his wife Lata Dhavalikar had said, "When girls used to follow Hindu culture, there were no instances of rape. Now, people have changed the way they behave and dress and you have seen how the number of rapes is on the rise."

Lata, who runs a controversial right wing organization called Sanatan Sauns was leading a gathering in Margaon on Sunday where she asked the parents to not to enroll their children in missionary schools. She said, "Rapes are on rise as women are aping western culture."

The minister's elder brother Sudin Dhavalikar, who is also a senior minister in the state cabinet, had last year created a row over his demand to ban on bikinis on Goa beaches that attract lakhs for tourists, including foreigners.