Sex peril warning on skirts

WOMEN should not wear skirts if they want to avoid being harassed, a politician has warned.

The advice was issued to foreigners in India by the country’s tourism minister.

Mahesh Sharma was speaking out over fears that rising violence against women was affecting visitor numbers.

He said: “For their own safety, women foreign tourists should not wear short dresses and skirts ... Indian culture is different from the western,”

But Ranjana Kumari, of the Delhi-based Centre for Social Research, said: “It was a stupid statement.”