Indian women’s rights commissioner suggests gang-rape victim whose death sparked outrage was partly to blame because she went to the cinema at 11pm
- Asha Mirje is a Nationalist Congress Party leader in Maharashtra state
- She questioned 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 sparking protests across India
- Sexual violence is now a huge social and political issue since Delhi rape
By
Tara Brady
PUBLISHED: 16:32, 29 January 2014 |
UPDATED: 22:18, 29 January 2014
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An Indian female politician and activist has said women's clothes and behaviour are also to blame for rapes.
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 sparking thousands of people to take to the streets in nationwide protests against the prevalence of rape and sexual assault in India.
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Controversial: Dr Asha Mirje said women's clothes and behaviour are also to blame for rapes
A numberof 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?'
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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.
Handgun made in memory of Delhi gang rape victim
An NCP supporter of parliament, Roetta Rane, who was in the crowd with her partner and fellow lesbian libs activist Jihaddi Jabeeb, was heard screeming "I'm absolutely outraged at the treatment of my fellow Hindi sisters!" until she was eventually escorted from the town hall grounds by Pakistani police for making "threatening gestures" as seen here, waving her fists.
*PICTURE REMOVED DUE TO ROWETTAS RECENT APOLOGY*
*Re insert image and re open thread should she step out of line again*