Indian women are posting pictures of themselves out past midnight after a male politician said a woman stalked by two men should not have been out “so late.”
Varnika Kundu said she was almost kidnapped when she was pursued by two men while driving home after midnight in New Delhi on Saturday.
She said her two stalkers chased her in their vehicle before cutting her off and approaching her car on foot and then banging on its window in an attempt to enter.
In a Facebook post that has been shared more than 6,000 times, Kundu said she felt lucky she was “not lying raped and murdered in a ditch somewhere.”
She wrote: “They seemed to really be enjoying harassing a lone girl in the middle of the night, judging by how often their car swerved, just enough to scare me that it might hit me.”
Ramveer Bhatti, the area vice president of the Bharatiya Janata party, said the shocking incident would not have happened if she had not been out “so late at night.”
He said: “The girl should not have gone out at 12 in the night,” adding: “Why was she driving so late in the night? The atmosphere is not right. We need to take care of ourselves.”
Speaking to The Times of India, he added: "Parents must take care of their children. They shouldn't allow them to roam at night. Children should come home on time, why stay out at night?"
His comments sparked outrage online, with women posting pictures of themselves out after midnight along with defiant messages and the hashtag #AintNoCinderella.
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Responding to the politician’s claims, Kundu said they were part of a “well-established tactic” to intimidate her into backing off from pursuing justice.
She told NDTV: “I’m supposed to be wondering about what this is going to do to my image and my life. But what would those guys have done to my life if they had caught me?
“What I do and where I go and at what time I do it is my business.”
Showing support to Kundu, one Twitter user posted an image of herself out after midnight alongside the message: “We ain't damsels in distress. We are independent & we don't need you to curb our freedom.”
Another wrote: “No one tells me what to wear, what to eat, when to go out & how to dress. Keep your regressive mind set to yourself.”
