Mamata Banerjee is habitual of 'victim-blaming' in rape cases: BJP

Kolkata, Oct 12 (IANS) Amid the controversial remarks by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday in the aftermath of the gang rape of a second-year medical student hailing from Odisha at Durgapur in West Burdwan district of West Bengal.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had described the Chief Minister as a person who is habitual in victim-blaming in such cases.

On Sunday afternoon, Chief Minister Banerjee, before leaving for North Bengal, told media persons in Kolkata that girls should not go outside at night.

Reacting to CM Banerjee's remarks, BJP's Information Technology Cell Chief and the party's central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, issued a social media post on Sunday afternoon citing examples of how the Chief Minister has resorted to victim-blaming in similar cases earlier.

According to Malviya, in 2023, a 14-year-old girl died after being raped by the son of a local Trinamool leader from Hanskhali in Nadia district, the Chief Minister raised a question whether the tragedy was "rape" or "pregnancy" or a "love affair".

He said that in 2012, the Chief Minister claimed that rape cases were rising across the country because men and women "interact more freely now", implying that victims were somehow responsible.

After the gangrape of a woman at Park Street in Kolkata in 2012, BJP leader Malviya said that Chief Minister Banerjee dismissed the case as a "fabricated story", discrediting a rape survivor, who had the courage to speak up later.

"Time and again, Mamata Banerjee has chosen to question the victim instead of condemning the perpetrators. This is not politics -- this is perversion," he claimed.

While advising that girls should not go outside their houses at night, the Chief Minister, earlier on Sunday, said that the police did not know with whom the girls were going out at night.

"In West Bengal, we have a zero-tolerance policy against such crimes. Students from outside come here to study. I would request them not to go out at night because the police don't get to know who is going out at night. The police cannot keep a watch on everyone by going to their doorstep. The private medical college also has a responsibility to take care of its students," Chief Minister Banerjee added.

--IANS

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