Tipster Aliya alerts us to this breakthrough in British jurisprudence: This week a London judge offered a convicted sex attacker a suspended sentence in exchange for a letter of apology to his victim. The judge felt this was appropriate as the perpetrator was “unsophisticated by Western standards,” being instead a poor little rich boy from India.
The perpetrator, 33-year-old Prashant Modi, travels frequently to Britain for his father’s oil business, the court learned, which no doubt explains his lack of sophistication. He was also unsophisticated enough to go clubbing with three Swedish women ten years younger than him, and unsophisticated enough to take them to his hotel room and order room service in the early morning. At some point the women fell asleep in his room. Mr Modi’s (female) defense attorney argued that her client was too unversed in the ways of the West to make sense of this situation in any but the most primal, dare I say primitive way:
She added: It was a situation he had never come across before. I am told in India it is not heard of. Mr Modi was simply unable to know how to behave. Not surprisingly, he was aroused.
The judge concurred:
After sentencing Modi, Judge Roberts said: I suspect that this situation of having three women asleep in his bed and sofa would have been somewhat confusing. It was, of course, that situation that led him into temptation.
“Temptation,” in this situation, meant undressing and mounting one of the sleeping women until another one woke up, saw what was going on and screamed. All in a night’s good time, the judge opined:
He added: I dont suppose it occurred to any of these four people that there was anything dangerous in going back to the hotel room. There is no suggestion that he lured them back with any dishonourable intentions. All four were affected by alcohol. It is unfortunate that having had their food, the women did not go home.
I guess they should have know that their host was a sheltered Indian ruled by animal passions. Amazing how the celebrants of the oh-so civilized West can trip over themselves in a rush to denigrate entire religions for not respecting women’s bodies and rights, then use this sort of noble-savage argument to excuse crimes against women. Hey, here’s a thought experiment: what if Prashant had been — oh, nevermind.
