Bengaluru, Oct 7: Bharathi Shankar, chairperson of Karnataka State Women’s Development Corporation has stirred a controversy by saying that women were raped at "unwanted parties, but not at jatres (melas)".
She was speaking at a panel discussion on women's safety during the launch of 'A Billion Eyes' campaign by B.Pac and Bangalore City police. The campaign calls upon bystanders to intervene when women are harassed.
Bharathi was answering an audience question whether women's empowerment was equal to women's safety. Listing measures for women's safety, Bharathi said, "When women go to jatre, do they get raped? They do get raped at unwanted parties."
The women's development corporation is a government of Karnataka undertaking set up to promote schemes for sustained income-generating activities among women's groups.
Bharathi compared women's safety issues to garbage segregation, saying one can't blame the government for problems in society. "About garbage problem, as a citizen I should segregate waste first. If I don't do it and keep blaming the department or corporator, what's the use?" she added.
Bharathi is a Bengaluru-based Congress leader and is a political appointee. She headed the Congress women’s wing of Bengaluru.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
Comments
Dont blame anybody if you or your daughter get raped cruelly
You are totally unfit for the position. Big shame
Shame on you. You people are the real curse
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