National Commission for Women Member Chandramukhi Devi gave a shocking statement about the victim of the Badaun saying the rape could have been avoided if the victim kept company and that “women should not step out untimely”.
The NCW member visited the place where a 50-year-old woman was gang-raped and left to die outside her home in Badaun district, Uttar Pradesh. According to a report from PTI, Chandramukhi Devi met the family of the victim after which she spoke to the media. It is then when the NCW member gave her shocking statement.
Chandramukhi Devi said, “This is a crime that has shamed humanity, but I would also like to say that women should not, under the influence of anyone, step out untimely,” she said. “I feel had the woman not stepped out in the evening, or one of her children had accompanied her, the incident would not have occurred.”
BIZARRE: NCW member Chandramukhi lectures women on timings of them venturing out, says the Badaun incident wouldn’t have happened had the women not gone out alone in EVENING!
She was sent by NCW to visit the kin of victim in Badaun. pic.twitter.com/jUpltuBtea
— Prashant Kumar (@scribe_prashant) January 7, 2021
This statement resulted in an obvious outcry in both news media and social media. Consequently, the NCW chairperson, Rekha Sharma clarified the NCW’s position regarding the matter with a tweet.
No I don’t..I don’t know how and why the member has said this but women have all the right move on their will whenever and wherever they want to. It’s society and state’s duty to make places safe for women. https://t.co/WlG2DWs20G
— Rekha Sharma (@sharmarekha) January 7, 2021
Meanwhile, 4 days after the heinous crime was reported, the UP police arrested the key accused. The accused man was a priest and is identified as Satyanand. Satyanand reportedly hid in the home of one of his followers. District Magistrate Kumar Prashant spoke to PTI and reported that the police picked him up from his hiding spot and made the arrest.
The gang-rape and murder of a 50-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district is another incident that will be smeared in the memory of Indians as the depravity of the human mind and the rape culture that’s rampant in India. The woman was reportedly raped by a local temple priest with two accomplices. The 50-year-old victim’s postmortem reports showed that the women’s legs, rib bones were broken and her private parts were severely injured.
The two accomplices were arrested on Tuesday after the reports confirmed the case to be that of a rape.
While the opposition party Congress came down hard on the UP government and termed the incident “horrific” and “shameful”, UP’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered “strongest possible action” against the guilty.
