Summary Following the incident, the stalking victim posted her ordeal on Facebook. Photo: Times of India
(Web Desk) – In a strong message of defiance, Indian women took to Twitter with post-midnight pictures of themselves after a male politician suggested that a woman who was chased and harassed by two men shouldn’t have been out “so late in the night”.
According to The Guardian, the campaign was launched after a woman, Varnika Kundu, was harassed, chased and almost kidnapped by two men while driving home in Chandigarh after midnight on Saturday.
Following the incident, she wrote on her Facebook post that she was chased by two men in a car for some kilometers before stopping and approaching her vehicle, and trying to enter inside her car.
“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.”
Kundu said she felt lucky she was “not lying raped and murdered in a ditch somewhere”.
Ramveer Bhatti, the area vice-president of Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) in an interview to a news channel said that, “she should not have gone out at 12 in the night. Why was she driving so late in the night? The atmosphere is not right. We need to take care of ourselves.”
The Times of India quoted Bhatti as saying: “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?” he said.
The BJP member’s strong remarks sparked over Twitter with strong responses from women, who have been posting pictures of themselves out after midnight under the hashtag #AintNoCinderella.
Our slippers are not glass; they are platinum & do not bend or break- like our spine. The pumpkin is you. #AintNoCinderella #VarnikaKundu
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) August 8, 2017
No man can stop me from going out whenever I want. Public spaces for women! #AintNoCinderella pic.twitter.com/jaipo3Dtai
— Nabakalpita Bora (@NabakalpitaB) August 7, 2017
Hey it s midnight and I m "out"!#AintNoCinderella pic.twitter.com/oKFNwtVIz0
— Palak Sharma (@Palaksharmanews) August 7, 2017
If I m out at 12am, it DOES NOT mean I m to be raped, molested, chased. My dignity is my right 24X7 #AintNoCinderella pic.twitter.com/6SN0I5NbSN
— Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK) August 7, 2017
#AintNoCinderella ... it s time to step out ! pic.twitter.com/CAWBJ83guk
— Sharmiela Mandre (@sharmilamandre) August 8, 2017
It s midnight and I can be wherever I want to be, because I #AintNoCinderella
— Pooja Khatri (@PoojaKhatri2802) August 7, 2017
Enjoying party with friends#GirlsNightOut @LambaAlka pic.twitter.com/i9A3l8G3aq
The young woman was later interviewed by NDTV where Kundu and her father rejected the criticism of her decision to be out alone especially at night.
She said the comments were part of a “well-established tactic” designed to intimidate her into backing off: “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.”
