The news of Mallika Sherawat’s statement that she made over a decade ago has again gone viral, and people are fearing for the safety of women in India. The actor had earlier said, ‘India is regressive because so many rape cases are coming to the fore.’ To counter the comments, Mallika posted footage of her 2013 comments on her Instagram page, stating that she was ‘attacked and bullied’ for being an activist at the time.
Mallika reminded readers about the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, saying, ‘I still can’t forget this moment when some sections of the Indian media attacked me for talking about gang rape and sexual violence in India’. She pointed out that women from Bollywood came forward to openly scold her for bringing up these issues – hence, the prevailing culture of rape does remain normalized.
The viral clip was taken from Mallika Dua’s appearance at a press conference for the reality show ‘The Bachelorette India’ where the media quizzes her about social problems in India. For instance, she spoke of how female foeticide, infanticide, and child marriages reveal those hidden hopes; she was convinced that they were the main causes for such a regressive status of women in the country.
This has been prompted after a postgraduate trainee doctor’s family accused RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata of raping and murdering her. Riots in support of the victims have continued to increase in the country as doctors are at the forefront of demanding justice.
