NCP activist Asha Mirge, who was nominated as member of the Maharashtra Women’s Commission (MWC) a month ago, stirred a controversy on Tuesday when she said girls should dress up and conduct appropriately in public and not venture out at lonely places, especially at night. Her “advice” to girls came at a programme of the NCP women’s wing here where wing president Supriya Sule was also present. She later apologised for her remarks. Mirge, a practising gynaecologist from Akola, had earlier doggedly pursued the matter of a 7-year-old hearing and speech impaired girl from Washim district of Vidarbha, who was allegedly raped by three men at a school in Hingoli district of Marathwada on January 13. The victim was brought to Nagpur’s Government Medical College, where Mirge visited her along with Sule. Three men, Rajaram Bhagat (a teacher), Jamil Patel (a peon) and Pramod Kharat from Sharadchandra Pawar Muk Badhir Shala from Vedona village in Hingoli district of Marathwada, had been arrested in connection with the alleged rape. At the function on Tuesday, Mirge said: “Girls must realise that their body language and clothing must be appropriate. Was it necessary for Nirbhaya (Delhi rape victim) to go to cinema with a friend at 11 in the night? Was it necessary for the girl (woman journalist) to go to Shakti Mills in Mumbai at 6 pm? Four questions should be mulled before venturing out: where I am going, why, with whom and is it necessary for me to go there.” She also cited a Marathi poem, “Saavadh harini saavadh ga, kareel kunitari paaradh ga” (be alert, deer, someone might kill you) to buttress her point. “Why female deer, not male, is advised in the poem to be alert,” Mirge further asked. She added: “If the girl must still go out, she must be ready with a response to anything untoward that could happen. She must watch the people around her and their body language. Someone might call his accomplices. You will get time to run away from the spot.” In her reaction, Sule said: “The comments were personal views of Mirge.” At a press conference later, Mirge apologised for her comment seen as “insensitive” by many people. “These were my personal views, borne out of my personal experience and from my interaction with many people. These are not MCW’s views. I apologise if they have hurt anyone. But I think just as it is time for men to change, it is also time for girls to think. It is, of course, desirable that gender equality demands that women must be safe under all circumstances. All I feel is that the girls should remain safe,” she said.
