KATHMANDU, July 24 (Xinhua) -- A Nepalese cabinet minister on Tuesday stepped down from the post following his controversial statement on Nepali female students.
Minister for Law and Justice Sher Bahadur Tamang resigned following his remarks that Nepali female students studying medical courses in Bangladesh were forced to become victims of sexual exploitation to acquire their academic degrees.
Major opposition Nepali Congress party and women rights activists had lashed out at the minister, arguing that the minister's remarks had offended the dignity of the entire Nepali women.
The minister announced his resignation at a press conference in the capital Tuesday afternoon.
Minister Tamang told reporters that he stepped down from the post on moral ground following controversies regarding his statement.
He said he did not have any mala-fide intention to give such statement.
"I have been committed to protect women's rights throughout my life and believe that women should not be victim of any kind of violence... I am deeply disappointed that my statement was unnecessarily exaggerated in social media in the past few days," the minister said.
The minister burst into tears during the press conference and offered apology, saying "please forgive me if I have hurt your sentiments."
Earlier on Tuesday, the Nepal Communist Party, in which Tamang belongs to, asked him to resign from the post.
Tamang has been the cabinet minister since the formation of the new government under the leadership of K.P. Sharma Oli in February this year.
