Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde courts row, says `if a hand touches a Hindu girl, that hand should not exist`

Union Minister of State Anant Kumar Hegde on Sunday courted a fresh controversy by saying that "if a Hindu girl is touched by a hand, then that hand should not exist."

Addressing a gathering in Kodagu district, Hegde said, "We have to rethink about priorities of our society. We shouldn’t think of caste. If a Hindu girl is touched by a hand, then that hand should not exist."

Hegde had recently stoked a controversy with his `daylight rape` comment which he had made in the context of persistent violence in Kerala after the Supreme Court allowed the women of menstrual age to enter the Sabarimala temple.

"The Supreme Court has given the direction. I totally agree with that, but at the same time since law and order is a state subject, the Kerala government should know how it has to be dealt with," he had said on January 10.

"The Kerala government had completely failed to manage it diplomatically without hurting the faith of the masses. It is a daylight rape on the Hindu people," Hegde had said.

with ANI inputs