Asha Mirje, Indian Politician, Says Women Invite Rape With Their Clothes, Behavior

Asha Mirje, Indian Politician, Says Women Invite Rape With Their Clothes, Behavior

Asha Mirje, Indian Politician, Says Women Invite Rape
With Their Clothes, Behavior

Reuters
 |  By Shyamantha Asokan and Angus MacSwan Posted: 01/29/2014 7:49 am

EST  |  Updated: 01/29/2014 3:59 pm ES

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/29/asha-mirje-rape-comments_n_4686379.html?utm_hp_ref=world
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/29/asha-mirje-rape-comments_n_4686379.html?utm_hp_ref=world

<sup>NEW DELHI, Jan 29 (Reuters) -
An Indian 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 gang-raped
on a bus in Delhi in 2012 was out late at night.



The student died of her
injuries and thousands of people took to the streets in nationwide protests
against the prevalence of rape and sexual assault in the world's largest
democracy.



A number of shocking
incidents have since been highlighted in Indian media, most recently the case
of 20-year-old woman who said she was gang-raped in a rural area of West Bengal
in eastern India on the orders of a village court last week.



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?"



"Nirbhaya", a Hindi
word meaning "fearless", has been widely adopted by the Indian media
as a name for the victim.



She also commented on the
gang 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.



Sexual violence has become a
huge social and political issue since the Delhi rape and India toughened laws
on sex crimes in March last year. Public anger over the poor state of women's
safety in Delhi was one reason that the ruling Congress Party was wiped out in
local elections in the city last month.



SWIFT REACTION



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, told
Reuters.



"It's unconscionable
that people in public posts make such remarks."



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.



"She did make a mistake
yesterday. She should not have said it," she said



While Mirje is thought to be
the first senior female public figure to make such comments about the Delhi
rape, other members of commissions looking after women's affairs have made
similar remarks about less high-profile attacks.



"Mirje is reflecting
what is a much larger problem. There are many others who hold such views,"
Krishnan said.



Mamata Banerjee, chief minister
of West Bengal, initially dismissed a gang rape in her state in 2012 as a
fabricated incident aimed at tarnishing her government.



Assaults have tarnished the
reputation of a country that has enjoyed growing prosperity in the past decade
and is modernising fast. Still, Mirje's comments were a reminder that
conservative and traditional mores are still deeply held by many of its 1.2
billion people, women as well as men.



In the most recent case
involving a foreigner, a 51-year-old Danish tourist was gang-raped in the
back-packers' district of Delhi last month by men she asked for directions to
her hotel. (Editing by Ron Popeski)</sup>

^{COMMENT :}

^{A dire warning for the world and the World
Community of Nations to the fact that the Indian government a complete failure
to control rape in the country and now is trying to float advance excuses blaming
the raped women and also the entire Indian women folks stating that women
invites the rapist to rape them.}

^{This clearly reveals that the
Politicians have accepted total defeat to handle most heinous social crime effectively
to afford to and ensure safety and security to the citizens.}

^{Is it not an irony of fate for the
citizens that a government cannot ensure safety and security of life and
property to its citizen yet claims to be the government of the country?}

^{Analysts, opined that both the female
and male politicians those who contribute to the version of the unknown Female
Politician who made the comment that the Indian women invites rapist to rape
them.}

^{It might have some hidden motive to facilitate
the politicians to continue raping and also to allow the rapists to carry on raping.
Her comment has facilitated the reason the situation to continue the prevailing
situation in the country.}

^{At the same time it added to blame the
Indian women folks to either to remain in India they must accept to be fucked
and remain silent or seek migration to other country indirectly announcing early
warning to the world community of nations to get ready to accommodate Indian
fucked women in their countries.}

^{Finally, the analysts are of the
strong opinion that the days are not far off when exodus of raped Indian women
would start leaving India for foreign countries as immigrant to pollute the
social atmosphere of those countries to which they go and settle.  Indian diplomat has already set an example to
commit crime in USA and lied.}