Chair of India’s National Commission For Women says Clothing Invites Sexual Assault

 

New Delhi, July 18, 2012

In response to a case last week where a teenage girl was attacked and molested by a mob of men in full public view, National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Mamta Sharma’s statement asking women to dress carefully to avoid crimes (like molestation) against them has sparked outrage and disgust with rights activists questioned the selection process of NCW office-bearers. Sharma’s comments came close on the heels of the removal of Alka Lamba from a fact-finding committee probing the Guwahati molestation case for revealing the victim’s identity.

While speaking about the molestation case on Tuesday, Sharma stopped short of prescribing a dress code. She said, “Be careful about how you dress… Aping the west blindly is eroding our culture and causing such crimes to happen.”

Earlier this year, at a seminar where she address young women, Sharma offered this advice on how to deal with street sexual harassment, “Don’t be offended if someone calls you ‘sexy’, rather take it positively.”

CPM leader Brinda Karat demanded the NCW chairperson withdraw her statement or quit. “Such advice is unwarranted and militates against the mandate of the commission. It only strengthens the forces who blame victims for the crimes against them,” she said.  Full Report Here

 

Teenage Girl Molested by a Mob of 20 Men in Full Public View!

Guwahati, Assam, July 13, 2012

A 17 year old girl was stripped and mob molested by a group of about 20 men, in full view of the public.  The girl was attending a friend’s party at a pub, when one of the men passed a lewd remark at her.  She retorted, and the pub owner threw them both out.  After that, as the man followed and grabbed at her, a crowd of men collected and joined in the gang attack.  There was a T.V. crew nearby that actually filmed the incident without intervening!!! The television station has been criticized for being mute witnesses to the crime.

The Managing Editor in response said, “There were lots of people shooting the incident on mobile phones…. The police was informed the moment this incident happened. There were two camerapersons and two people cannot take on a mob…Had we stopped rolling the camera, these molesters would not have been arrested. What we did was in public interest…”  Full report here

The faces of the accused men from this film has been made into a poster which has been put up all over the city.   The poster is included below here in this blog.

If anyone has any information regarding the men identified in this case (photos below) or you want report anything else regarding the incident, you may call 0120-4341895 (India

).