Victim's family express disbelief and women's rights activists criticise Arun Jaitley for saying the attack led to tourism losses

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

India's finance minister has sparked outrage by referring to the gang-rape and death of a young physiotherapy student in Delhi in 2012 as a "small" incident that has cost the country billions of dollars in tourism.

Arun Jaitley, who holds two cabinet posts and is one of India's most senior leaders, was speaking to a gathering of state tourism ministers on Thursday.

"One small incident of rape in Delhi advertised [the] world over is enough to cost us billions of dollars in terms of lower tourism," he said.

The parents of the 23-year-old victim, who was repeatedly raped by six men on a moving bus, sexually assaulted with an iron rod, thrown from the vehicle naked and later died from her injuries, expressed their disbelief at the comments.

"An honest citizen lost her life, isn't that a loss to the nation?" asked her father.

"I feel sad and in pain after hearing these words," her mother told the ANI news agency. "When they wanted votes, they used my daughter's name to criticise the last government. Now they're in power, instead of doing something, they've called her ordeal 'small' and have revealed their own small-mindedness to the world."

The victim cannot be named under Indian law but she has been nicknamed Nirbhaya or "the fearless one" by the public.

Her death triggered nationwide protests and led to changes in India's outdated rape laws. But Jaitley's comments were the latest in a series by politicians which appeared to underscore that leaders see sexual violence as an image problem rather than a fundamental human rights issue as well as a law and order responsibility.

In recent months, politicians have said rapes happen "accidentally", that sometimes rape was "right" and that "boys make mistakes". Other Indian politicians have blamed miniskirts, spicy food and creeping westernisation for sexual violence.

Many women's rights activists criticised Jaitley's remarks.

"No rape is 'small'," tweeted Kavita Krishnan, a leftwing leader and one of India's most prominent voices on women's rights.

2/2 @arunjaitley No rape is 'small', each rape is shameful coz it violates women's rights not coz it affects tourism! http://t.co/5M2CcEbuvU — Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) August 22, 2014

"I think the problem here is to actually introspect and ask why it is that Indian society has failed to relate to women with dignity and respect," Vrinda Grover, a lawyer and human rights activist, told the Headlines Today TV channel.

India's Press Information Bureau later excised the word "small" in its official account of Jaitley's comments, leading to further controversy. The finance minister denied on Friday that he was referring to any specific incident.

"I regret that some word that I used was construed as insensitive, that was never my intention," Jaitley told the NDTV news channel. "I have always been very outspoken about issues relating to crimes against women. I am very sensitive to these issues myself."

Arun Jaitley. Photograph: Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images

His comments came a few days after India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, appealed to the nation during his first Independence Day speech to keep a closer eye on their sons, rather than blaming their daughters for sexual crimes.

Jaitley did not address the controversy further via his Twitter account, whose banner states, "High growth rate, high revenue generation, greater investments is the way forward."

India received 6.97m tourists in 2013 according to government figures, roughly equivalent to the number of people who visit Venice annually. In February last year, a survey by TripAdvisor found that 94% of women said they felt unsafe travelling alone in India.