MP Kirron Kher drew condemnation from various quarters a day after she stated that the 22-year-old gang-rape victim should not have boarded the auto-rickshaw with three men already sitting in it.
While speaking to mediapersons yesterday, Kher had said the girl allegedly raped by three men, including an auto-rickshaw driver, should not have sat in the vehicle when she saw three men in it.
“We should make the city so secure that a girl should feel safe even if 10 persons, let alone three, are sitting in a vehicle. The MP should not have said what she did yesterday. Rather efforts should be made to make Chandigarh safe,” said former MP and BJP leader Harmohan Dhawan.
Expressing displeasure over the BJP leader’s statement, former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal said, “One is aghast to hear such a statement from a responsible person like an MP. Gang rape is a very serious matter which deserves serious consideration. Instead of judging the victim’s decision of boarding an auto occupied by three men, one expected a serious response from her.”
“She should have instead informed about what discussions she has had with the authorities over the security of women in Chandigarh and what steps are proposed to make Chandigarh a crime-free city, which might include better lighting of all roads, greater mobility of PCR vehicles and taking steps to instill fear in the minds of potential miscreants,” added the Congress leader. Facebook user Varsha Dasgupta posted, “I used to look up to you. But now, I am so damn disappointed with you.”
“Basically, she meant is if I board an auto-rickshaw alone with three men already in it, I am giving them an excuse to rape me?...,” added Paromita Chatterjee.
However, there were some who said her statement was not presented in a right way and she did not mean it.
Meanwhile, the MP took to Facebook to clarify her yesterday’s statement, claiming that it was taken out of context, selectively reported, and gravely politicised. She suggested that the girl should have taken the service of a PCR instead of going in the auto with three men already sitting in it.
Kirron Kher clarifies
“…my statement about the gang rape in Chandigarh, was taken out of context, selectively reported, and gravely politicised — all of which distracted from the real message I wanted to send out to the girls, as a woman, as a mother and as their representative in the Parliament…”
