We live in a world where after a woman is sexually assaulted, people will blame the woman instead of the perpetrator. Nirbhaya was blamed for roaming around with a male friend at night in Delhi. Suzette Jordan was blamed for befriending a group of men and giving them permission to drop her home in Kolkata. Shraddha Walkar is being blamed for getting into a live-in relationship with Aftab Ameen Poonawala.
Aftab, with whom Shraddha was in a relationship for 3 years, literally strangled her to death, chopped her body into 35 pieces, and discarded them in a forest in Mehrauli. But the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Kaushal Kishore, thinks that it was her fault in the first place for abandoning her parents and getting into a live-in relationship.
Live-in relationships are a “crime”, Kishore Kaushal says, and “educated girls” are to be blamed. In an interview with News18, he says:
“There has to be a proper registration to stay in a live-in relationship. If parents are not happy with the choice of partner, then the girls should first go to court and get married and then stay together.”
That’s not all. He went on to add that “educated girls” are paying the price for this “wrong practice” and that live-in relationships should be banned.
“Educated girls should be blamed as they call themselves adults and consider that they are big enough to take such major decisions. Live-in relations encourage crime. A live-in relationship is a wrong practice and is leading to crime. These ‘educated’ girls are paying for this. It should be completely banned.”
Have a look at his interview here:
#BreakingNews | Girls are responsible for leaving parents for live-in relationship: Union minister Kaushal Kishore insults #ShraddhaWalkar
"Educated girls to be blamed"
"Get married first, live-ins encourage crime"@kaidensharmaa | @toyasingh | #Shraddha #Vic pic.twitter.com/zoo5IZBCks
— News18 (@CNNnews18) November 17, 2022
His statement sparked massive outrage online. People slammed him for victim-blaming and disrespecting Shraddha Walkar instead of holding the accused Aftab Ameen Poonawala accountable.
Where is comedy here? It's the truth https://t.co/IYG4SHR733 pic.twitter.com/8m1aJi9ARE
— Aashik Khan (@ShrimaanAashik) November 17, 2022
This is the quality of Government in India and you wonder why the country, its economy, it's society is on the brink of collapse? https://t.co/UsF8yprNbr
— ☭林彪☭ (@LinBiYao) November 17, 2022
An adult women gets in a relationship with a man, goes for live in, relationship turns sour, man kills the girl, who should be blamed? Education ?♂️?♂️
Meanwhile parents of #ShraddhaWalkar are looking at them for justice for their daughter.
Heights of insensitivity?? https://t.co/ocpz1gRqcA— Anshul Baalwan (@nshul_baalwan) November 17, 2022
These people need to just shut up. Intimate partner violence happens in marriages. Marrying an abuser doesn’t change the abuse. https://t.co/rO0zomrKKD
— Doctor (@DipshikhaGhosh) November 17, 2022
Yeah marrying gives another option for death. Like being hanged or set ablaze for dowry. This kind of uninformed view refuses to see the issue is male rage. The nature of the relationship is immaterial. https://t.co/s99q9Izspw
— Nikhil Mehra (@TweetinderKaul) November 17, 2022
Disgrace of a human being. Kaushal Kishore ! don’t ever give power to such politicians to give interviews or any opinion. Don’t vote for such types. https://t.co/lU41C5WYAz
— Ajit (@ajitwrites) November 17, 2022
getting chopped into pieces by the abusive partner is also the girl's fault. wow. https://t.co/Izhs0c5Ktk
— un_known (@poornimaaaa) November 17, 2022
Well, colour me surprised.
This government releases rapists, murderers & terrorists, fields candidates who praise rapists, its members attend rapist's sermons and ashrams. Not that big a stretch to imagine a minister will pin the blame of murder and dismemberment on women. https://t.co/rn0VqrXAz8
— Rituparna Chatterjee (@MasalaBai) November 17, 2022
It’s such a shame that even in 2022, despite all the awareness surrounding sexual assault and women’s rights, women are continued to blame for the crimes that are committed against them.