Mr Manohar Lal Sharma, was in the news as the defense lawyer for the accused in the ‘Nirbhaya’ rape case in 2012. He also made the headlines for filing a PIL with regard to AAP’s funding from foreign territory which was quashed. More than the above two issues, he’s been in the news for his conspiracy theories with regard to America’s attempts to overthrow the Indian Govt, by using Arvind Kejriwal as a pawn, as well as his views on women and rape.
Following his outrageous views on the Nirbhaya rape case, which he shared with the world in BBC’s documentary ‘India’s Daughter’ – we chanced upon another fabulous interview he gave in 2013 to a Youtube channel ‘ News Laundry ‘, interviewed by Abhinandan Sekhri. Much to the interviewer’s amusement, Mr Sharma goes to great lengths to prove his point. We pull out a few of his most interesting quotes from the interview.
1. When AAP was commissioned by CIA to overthrow the Union of India
As per Mr Sharma, AAP was formed with the support of the Ford foundation, which is a front for the CIA to finance anti-govt activities in other countries. And the funding of AAP was primarily to separate Delhi from the rest of the country.
Full quote: “Ford Foundation is funding AAP. They did the same thing in Russia and it broke up in 17 pcs. They tried to do the same thing in China, but the agitators were shot at in Tiananmen square. Kejriwal is again chosen by the CIA to do the same in India.His Magasaysay award was also a trick by CIA to get him in to the limelight.”
Full quote: “America is funding AAP because it will become very easy to control one person like a Lokpal, instead of a whole Govt, and that is why they’re helping these people to push for the Lokpal bill.”
Full quote: “Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan are smart people, they withdrew their nominations as soon as they got to know about my case. Any contesting member will be indicted once my case is proven.”
He defines what a heinous crime is…
Full quote: “Prashant Bhsuhan made a photocopy of my PIL against the coal block allocations. He managed to get his PIL listed as no. 1 and he had my petition dropped. He did it for credit, and if you ask me this is the worst than any heinous crime.”
2. When the rape victim wasn’t blamed for her rape and death
Advocate M L Sharma represented one of the defendants in the Nirbhaya rape case, which took place in Delhi in 2012. He had a few interesting things to say about women and rape as a crime, we quote him – just as he said it:
Full quote: “All the (rape) cases that come in the courts these days, 90 percent of them are fake. And the other 10 percent, they have to prove it. You have to see if the girl put herself in the circumstances.”
Full quote: “Nature is only perfect. Nature has made women innocent, tender like a flower, and physically weak. They have a tremendous ability to withstand pain like the earth. Men have been built like a rock, so that is mother nature’s way of allocating responsibilities to men and women. Women look at the things related to household, men look after the security of the family, earn the bread for the family.”
Full quote: “No man can have sex with another woman, against his own will. Unless he gets excited, he can’t have sex with a woman. You can ask psychiatrists, doctor or any scientist. Women don’t need to be excited to have sex, that’s how they’re made.”
Full quote: “A man will get excited when he gets the atmosphere. Atmosphere depends on the circumstances and who is involved in the situation that bring a man to the stage where he can penetrate.”
What he is essentially saying is that a woman doesn’t get raped unless she gives her consent…
Full quote: “Rape is the last stage. First stage is excitement, second is the circumstance, third stage is the consent of the girl and the final is rape.”
And then this is the kind of sick analogy he uses to make his point that women should not come out their house.
Full quote: “Suppose you have box of sweets and you keep them in front of your house. What will happen? Street dogs will come and finish it off. But if you keep the same box of sweets in your fridge, will the street dogs be able to finish it off?”
Full quote: “Everyone is responsible for their own safety. If someone roams around irresponsibly then they have only themselves to blame if something bad happens to them.”
Full quote: “The circumstances for rape are created by you. And then when something bad happens, you become the victim – when in fact you’re equally responsible for it.”
Full quote: “To end rape you have to remove the sexual atmosphere created by films with semi-nude/nude women, action shown under a bedsheet, women in bikinis selling everything in ads, what is this nuisance! All the money earned by creating such a sexual atmosphere needs to be stopped.”
Full quote: “Kids should not be exposed to such things when they’re small, they should wait till the age of 20-22 after which they can get married and find out what sex is. That’s when things will improve.”
The interviewer asks a couple of 20-year olds sitting there if they watch TV. And if they watch TV, have they raped anyone? They answer in the negative, to which M L Sharma says:
The interviewer interjects: What is a sexual pose?
Also gives his ruling on ‘Virgins’ and pre-marital sex…
Full quote: “In our country, females are known as either ‘Maa’ or ‘Kanya’. Those who are not ‘Kanya’s do not deserve the same kind of respect. ‘Virgin’ is a word invented by Americans, Europeans, in our country ‘virgin’ is bad word.”
So what should we absorb from the above life lessons that Mr Sharma has imparted with us. That he’s some dumb ass, whose license to practice law should be annulled? How does the society have to change to uproot such misogynistic thinking? When will the gap between a literate person and an educated person be bridged? Only unanswered questions in the end.
These quotes have been taken from an interview conducted by News Laundry. Watch the complete interview here: