Indian female politician says rape victims may have invited attacks

An Indian female politician and activist has said rape victims may have invited attacks by their clothes and behaviour.

Asha Mirje, a Nationalist Congress Party leader in Maharashtra state, questioned at a meeting 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 and thousands of people took to the streets against the prevalence of rape and sexual assault.

A 20-year-old woman 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 said in reference to the Delhi assault: “Did Nirbhaya really have go to watch a movie at 11 in the night with her friend?”

“Nirbhaya“, a Hindi word meaning “fearless”, has been widely adopted by the Indian media as a name for the victim. She also commented on the gang rape of a photojournalist in Mumbai last year. “Rapes take place also because of a woman’s clothes, her behaviour and her presence at inappropriate places.”

Women must be “careful,” she said, and think if they are inviting assault.

Mirje’s comments caused a stir, with several reports pouring scorn on her.

“Every time such a statement is made by a public figure it justifies rape,” said Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association, a lobby group.