Educated girls like Shraddha become victims of crime: Union Minister Kaushal Kishore

"These incidents are common with well-educated women who think they are very frank and capable of making decisions about their future. It's only these girls that get embroiled in this. They should take responsibility for their parents who raised them," Union Minister Kaushal Kishore said.

New Delhi:Reacting to the Shraddha Walkar murder case, Union Minister Kaushal Kishore on Thursday said 'educated girls should not get into live-in relationships', citing that such relationships are giving rise to crimes in which they (girls) become victims. He is the second politician to have victim-blamed after Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut asked 'educated women like Walkar to make better choices' earlier.

"These incidents are common with well-educated women who think they are very frank and capable of making decisions about their future. It's only these girls who eventually become victims. They should take responsibility for their parents who raised them, and should not leave them for a live-in relationship," Kishore said while speaking at the tribute ceremony of the woman Dalit freedom fighter Uda Devi, organized at the premises of the Gaya Club on Thursday.

He further suggested that instead of live-in relationships, people should opt for court marriage. “What is the need for live-in relationships? If they have to do so, there should be proper registration for live-in relationships. If parents are not willing publicly for such relationships, you should have a court marriage and then live together," he said. He made similar remarks during an interview with a TV channel as well.

Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut had made a similar remark just a couple of days ago. However, a Sena woman leader criticised the Union Minister Kishore's comment. A sharp reaction came from Priyanka Chaturvedi - Sena leader - demanding his resignation. Chaturvedi also urged Prime minister Narendra Modi to sack the minister from the Union cabinet immediately for his 'heartless and cruel blame-the-women remark'.

Chaturvedi took to Twitter and said, “If @PMOIndia really means what he says about women empowerment, then he must sack this Union Minister immediately. We the women have had enough of carrying the burden of such patriarchal rubbish in society.”

“Surprised he didn’t say girls are responsible for being born into this nation. Shameless, heartless, and cruel, blame-the-woman-for-all problems mentality continues to thrive," she added.

In the ghastly Shraddha murder, the accused Aftab Poonawala allegedly strangled her and sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-liter fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhi’s Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days past midnight. Police said the couple used to have frequent arguments over financial issues and it is suspected that there was also a fight between them that resulted in Poonawala killing 27-year-old Walkar on the evening of May 18.