Quote of the day

"'If you can't prevent rape, you enjoy it,' says India's top police official"

The headline from this Guardian news article, which begins: "One of India's most senior policemen has been forced to apologise after comparing rape to unlicensed betting which, because it cannot be prevented, should be enjoyed."

The shocking thing, though, isn't Ranjit Sinha's comment but the standard of journalism exhibited by the article, which is extremely poor. After all, when you read further, you realise that Sinha's comment has been taken out of context in such a way as to totally misrepresent what was said: "'Do we have the enforcement?' Sinha said after being asked if sports betting, which is banned in India but widespread, should be legalised. 'It is very easy to say that if you can't enforce it, it's like saying if you can't prevent rape, you [should] enjoy it.'"

While I'm not condoning Sinha's choice of analogy (he should have been more careful and sensitive in the current climate), the Guardian should be ashamed for the misleading way in which the story has been reported.

Update: The headline has now been changed ("Indian police chief's rape analogy causes outrage across country") but not that first paragraph.