Maharashtra women panel member blames girls for rape; likely to be sacked

Zee Media Bureau Mumbai: The insensitivity towards women`s rights appears to be not just limited to uncouth men. Maharashtra State Women Commission member and NCP member Asha Mirje exhibited similar disposition when she blamed women for not being “careful”.

Speaking at gathering of NCP`s women`s wing at Nagpur, Mirje questioned the Delhi gang-rape victim`s intention in going out to watch a movie with a friend at 11 pm in the night. "Did Nirbhaya really have to go to watch a movie at 11 in the night with her friend? Take the Shakti Mills gang-rape case. Why did the victim go to such an isolated place at 6 pm?" NCP`s women`s wing is headed Supriya Sule, who is the daughter of party chief Sharad Pawar. Sule was on the dais when Mirje made the controversial remarks. Mirje added that women have to be “careful”. “...We have to ask ourselves, where am I going, with whom am I going, what am I going for, do I really need to go to that place," she said. She went on to detail the three reasons that lead to sexual assault on women. As per Mirje, the reasons are woman`s clothes, her behaviour and her presence in inappropriate places. Mirje said that a woman has to think whether, even if mistakenly,she is not inviting or inviting (sexual assault).