Indore, Jan 6 (PTI): RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who stoked a controversy a few days ago saying that rapes do not take place in rural but urban India, has created a fresh row now with remarks that a woman is bound by contract to husband to look after him.

"A husband and wife are involved in a contract under which the husband has said that you should take care of my house and I will take care of all your needs. I will keep you safe.

"So, the husband follows the contract terms. Till the time, the wife follows the contract, the husband stays with her, if the wife violates the contract, he can disown her," Bhagwat told a rally here yesterday.

Reacting sharply to Bhagwat's comment, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said, "I don' think it is really surprising because at the end of the day, this is what RSS is. That is why I think it is the retrogade 'samiti' of India. These were the regents who when BJP was in power wanted a new Constitution of India based on 'manushriti'. So when he talks in this language, he only reflects his ideology."

The RSS chief had created a flutter last week when he had said in Silchar in Assam that rape is mainly prevalent in urban India due to western influence and that such crimes against women do not happen in rural areas of the country.

The remark that came against the backdrop of the Delhi gangrape incident was slammed by Congress, CPI-M and women's bodies while BJP and RSS defended it saying the comment should be taken in proper perspective.

Bhagwat had claimed that the incidents of rape were the result of adoption of western culture in society as a whole and that erosion of traditional Indian values were more pronounced in urban areas.

"Crimes against women happening in urban India are shameful. It is a dangerous trend. But such crimes won't happen in Bharat or the rural areas of the country. You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gangrape or sex crimes," he had said.