Disclaimer: The blogger wishes to remain anonymous in order to protect their identity.

As a girl, I know exactly how difficult it is to live in a city like Delhi, where crime rates, especially against women, are increasing every single day.

And in light of the recent Chandigarh gang-rape, I would just like to infirm that victim shaming is an extremely abhorrent and wrong thing to indulge in ever.

The victim is never at fault. Never. No matter how short her dress might be, no matter what time of the day it might be, no matter what road she is travelling on, no matter cuisine she might have had (like chowmein etc.) … no matter what, a victim is never to be blamed for what happened to them in any way.

However, having said that, I would like to shed light on the fact that prudence is the need of the hour, there needs to some self-preservation that women should be careful of.

What Happened With Kirron Kher

Recently, Kirron Kher in all her infinite wisdom and quick thinking decided to indulge in a quick bout of victim shaming when she commented on the recent gang-rape committed in Chandigarh.

The news of the heinous crime committed was such that the girl had a stenography class in the Sector 37 of Chandigarh and while returning from that to her PG in Mohali, the woman decided to board a sharing auto. She was tragically gang-raped by the auto driver and his accomplice and was found in Sector 53 by people.

In light of this, Kirron Kher decided to comment at a press conference by The Indian Express that, “Bachchi ki samajhdaari ko bhi main thoda sa kehna chahti hun… saari bachiyon ko.. ki already jab koi teen aadmi baithe hue hain uske andar… to aapko usme bethna nahi chahiye tha….I am saying this to protect the girls…..”

Basically, she is saying that the woman should not have gotten into an auto when she saw it had 3 other men in it and that the safety of the women is in their hands only.

Coming from an MP, a woman, a celebrity and a person with influence, this statement is not just wrong, but downright idiotic and shameful especially in today’s time when we are trying to change the mindset of victim-shaming.

I absolutely detest that she said and worded her statement in this way in such a public conference where her words can even be taken by stupid people as justification for what happened to the girl.

Read More: A Feeble No Might Mean Yes; Peepli Live Rape Verdict Redefines The Meaning Of Consent

I Myself Have Shared An Auto

Could she have worded the statement better?

Absolutely.

Could she just have stayed quiet on that one little point?

Absolutely.

Here I would just like to say that we didn’t know her situation. Perhaps she might have been pushed to take the auto, perhaps she was getting late or perhaps she felt it was better to take any auto instead of standing there like a walking target.

But, the only reason I can relate to this incident is because I myself have been in sharing autos when I had no other option.

A few years back, I was working at an NGO in the Sainik Farm area, and if anyone has been there you would know that autos do no go in there and the only autos that do run are sharing autos.

I had absolutely no other choice but to take one to get to the main road where I would then take an individual auto to get home.

But even in times when I had no option other than to share, I still tried to engage in prudence and always looked for female riders before getting in one myself.

Safety first, safety second, safety third.

I don’t want to be a bali ka bakra for the media to exploit or politicians to make lofty promises, and even though it crushes me with sadness having to write this, the city is just not safe.

We must treat it as a heinous crime, please read my first few lines, but at the same time, we girls should become even more careful regarding our safety, because the sad part is that, there is no guarantee that we are safe even if we are in an auto or cab alone.

The best we can do right now is be selfish about our safety and put it as the highest priority.


Image Credits: Google Images


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