'Live-in relationships lead to crime': Minister criticised for comments on what 'educated girls' should do

As the country witnesses the unfolding of one of the most horrific murder cases -- Shraddha Walkar by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala, the latest comment on live-in relationships from Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore has drawn massive criticism. The minister, in his comments, blamed educated girls who leave parents and stay in live-in relationships with their partners and added that live-in relationships lead to crime. 

"Educated girls should not get into such relationships. They should learn from such incidents (Shraddha Walkar murder). They should stay with someone with the approval of their parents," he added.

The minister also stated that if parents are not willing to publicly support such relationships, one must have a court marriage and then live together. "Why are they living in live-in relationships? If they have to do so, there should be proper registration," he said.

After his comments, Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi strongly criticised the comment and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack the Union Minister immediately. 

"If @PMOIndia really means what he says about women Shakti then he must sack this Union Minister immediately. We the women have had enough of carrying the burden of such patriarchal rubbish in the society," she said on Twitter.

"Surprised he didn’t say girls are responsible for being born into this nation. Shameless, heartless and cruel, blame-the-woman-for-all problems mentality continues to thrive," Chaturvedi stated. 

Shraddha Walkar murder case

Aaftab Poonawala was arrested by Delhi Police for the murder of his live-in partner, Shraddha Walkar. Following an argument between them, Poonawala strangled Walkar on May 18, then proceeded to chop her body into 35 pieces. He kept the pieces in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at their home in South Delhi's Mehrauli and then dumped her mortal remains in the Mehrauli forest area over a period of 18 days.

Also Read: Shraddha murder case: Court extends custody of Aaftab by 5 days, allows narco test