`Educated girls should...`: Union Minister blames Shraddha Walkar for her murder, faces flak

Union Minister Kaushal Kishore Kumar solely blamed Shraddha Walker for her gruesome murder because of living-in with partner. He urged educated girls to learn from uneducated girls and urged to stay with someone as per parent`s wishes

New Delhi: The heartbreaking and inhumane murder of Shraddha Walker had already left the nation in jitters when the Union Minister Kaushal Kishore Kumar, after an event on Thursday, November 17, 2022, held the victim fully responsible for her murder and requested the “educated” girls to learn from the “uneducated” girls, asking girls to live with a person according to parent’s wishes. The Union Minister made this comment after attending an event in Uttar Pradesh, saying that Live-in relationships are just friendships which ends eventually, urging girls to learn from such incidents and uneducated girls before going against parent’s wishes. 

Kishore, while referring to the Shraddha Walkar's murder case, said educated girls are responsible for leaving parents for live-in relationships that lead to crime, and suggested that they should instead go for court marriage.

"It is the responsibility of girls also, as they leave their parents, who have reared them up for years, in one go. Why are they living in live-in relationships. If they have to do so, there should be proper registration for live-in relationships. If parents are not willing publicly for such relationships, you should have a court marriage and then live together," Kishore said

Commenting on the relationship which was shared by Shraddha and Aftab, Kishore said, “What is this live-in relationship, this is giving rise to crime and it is a wrong thing and people are facing its consequences” 

“Most of the educated girls are going into live-in relationships. Lessons should be taken from these incidents and uneducated girls. Those who have been brought up by their parents should stay with someone as per their wishes. This should be stopped. Government has spread awareness about it over time…but will now do some decision making work to curb such incidents,” he added.

Priyanka Chaturvedi, a leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and a member of the Rajya Sabha, criticised Kishore for having a "blame-the-woman-for-all-problems mentality" and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sack the minister if he truly believes what he says about Women empowerment.

Taking on Twitter, Chaturvedi wrote, “Surprised he didn’t say girls are responsible for being born into this nation. Shameless, heartless and cruel, blame-the-woman-for-all problems mentality continues to thrive.”

“If @PMOIndia really means what he says about women Shakti then he must sack this Union Minister immediately. We the women have had enough of carrying the burden of such patriarchal rubbish in the society,” she added.

Poonawala, 28, allegedly strangled his live-in partner Shradha Walkar, 27, and sawed her body into several pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhi's Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days.

In 2019, Poonawala and Walkar connected via an online dating app. They later began working at a call centre in Mumbai's Malad district. The couple started living together in Mumbai before relocating to Delhi in May of this year due to the opposition from their families.