New Delhi: Union Minister Farooq Abdulla who earlier in the day  made a controversial statement on women, was later regretful of the same. “My remarks have been misconstrued and I have the greatest respect for women,”he said.

Earlier in the day on December 6, Friday, Farooq Abdulla  while entering Parliament had said, “I am afraid of talking to women. In fact I do not even want to keep a woman secretary, God forbid, if there’s a complaint against me and I end up in jail. Such is the state of affairs today. I agree that incidents of rape have increased but this has to stop somewhere.”

In a U-Turn later on, Farooq  trying to cover up his previous statement said “I am not blaming the girls, I am blaming society itself.”.

Among those who demanded an apology was his son, Omar, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, who tweeted, “I’m sure the attempt wasn’t to trivialize the important issue of women’s security. I hope dad apologizes for the misplaced attempt at humour.”