NEW DELHI: A female politician and activist has said rape victims may have invited attacks by their clothes and behaviour, fuelling a national debate over a series of incidents of sexual violence against women.
Asha Mirje, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader in western Maharashtra state, questioned at a meeting on Tuesday why a 23-year-old physiotherapy student who was raped on a bus in Delhi in 2012 was out late at night.
Mirje, who is a member of the state women’s commission, said in reference to the Delhi assault: “Did Nirbhaya really have go to watch a movie at 11 in the night with her friend?”
She also commented on the rape of a photojournalist who was on assignment at a disused mill in Mumbai last year, asking why the victim had gone to such an isolated place. “Rapes take place also because of a woman’s clothes, her behaviour and her presence at inappropriate places,” she said. Women must be “careful”, she said, and think if they are inviting assault.
Mirje’s party belongs to the Congress-led national coalition government and her comments caused an immediate stir, with several television reports pouring scorn on her. “Every time such a statement is made by a public figure it justifies rape,” Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association, a lobby group, said.
Even members of her own party distanced themsleves from her remarks. NCP member of parliament Supriya Sule told reporters she was sorry Mirje had made them and that they reflected her personal views, not those of the party. Reuters
