BJP’s Kirron Kher landed in a soup with her comment about a young woman who had been gang-raped earlier this month by an auto-rickshaw driver and his two friends. Kher had stated, “I want to tell this girl and all other girls that if you see already three men sitting in the auto, then you should not board it. I am saying this to protect girls. We all have to be alert about such things. I am saddened by what has happened to the woman.”

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Video Credit: ANI

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The BJP parliamentarian was trolled for her statement, which was seen as “a light take on a serious matter”. Instead, she should say how she is going to make Chandigarh a safer place for women, it was pointed out.

Former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal stated, “One is aghast to hear such a statement from a responsible person like an MP. Gang rape is a very serious matter which deserves serious consideration. Instead of judging the victim’s decision of boarding an auto occupied by three men, one expected a serious response from her.”

Criticism poured in, via social media as well, as angry users posted statements like, “I used to look up to you. But now, I am so damn disappointed with you,” and “Basically, she meant is if I board an auto-rickshaw alone with three men already in it, I am giving them an excuse to rape me?...”

Kher was forced to issue a statement clarifying, “My statement about the gang rape in Chandigarh, was taken out of context, selectively reported, and gravely politicised — all of which distracted from the real message I wanted to send out to the girls, as a woman, as a mother and as their representative in the Parliament… I just said we are living in bad times. We all, especially ladies, have to take precautions. As a mother, I am saying this that we need to take care… If the Congress wants to make an issue out of it, I cannot help.”