With multiple rape cases of minor girls sparking nation-wide outrage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said there should be no politics over the issue.

At the 'Bharat Ki Baat, Sabke Saath' diaspora event in London, Modi said it's painful when a small girl is raped.

"A rape is a rape. How can we tolerate this exploitation of our daughters?

"But can we compare the number of rapes in different governments? We cannot say there were this many rapes in our government and that many in yours. There cannot be a worse way to deal with this issue," he said.

Calling it the evil of not just the individual but also of the society, the Prime Minister said people need to teach their sons to treat girls with respect.

He said the cases of rapes was a cause of concern for the whole nation and one should remember that the one "committing the sin" is someone's son.

"That's why I presented this issue from the Red Fort in a new way. I had said that if a daughter comes late, parents ask where had she gone and why. Whom did she meet?

"Everyone asks their daugthers, but you should also ask your sons where had they been," Modi said.

The Prime Minister's remarks came as his government faced criticism for increasing incidents of rapes of minors especially after an 8-year-old girl was gang-raped and killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.