Stalking victim’s stand strikes chord in India

A WOMAN at the centre of a stalking case in India has spoken of her surprise at becoming a standard bearer for women’s rights across the country.

Varnika Kundu, a 29-year-old DJ, said yesterday that she felt “vindicated” after two men were arrested and charged with attempting to kidnap her on Friday night when they chased her car through the northern Indian city of Chandigarh.

In a Facebook post, Ms Kundu described the ordeal in which the perpetrators drove parallel to her car for 25 minutes and then blocked her before “aggressively” trying to enter the vehicle. She said they enjoyed her distress, and she felt lucky that she was “not lying raped and murdered in a ditch somewhere”.

Indian women took to Twitter to post pictures of themselves out after midnight with the slogan “Ain’t No Cinderella” after a senior male politician suggested Ms Kundu was at fault for being “out so late in the night.”

In an interview, Ms Kundu said her story had struck a chord with many Indian women, who had told her of similar experiences.

She said their support had helped her through attempts to sully her character for driving alone at night.

“It’s been overwhelming,” she said. “I think Indian women are just so sick and tired of being treated like second class citizens, of just being told because you were born different you’re not good enough, you can’t do the same things that a boy can do.”

Ramveer Bhatti, a senior politician from the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, had appeared to question her morals when speaking to The Times of India.

“Why was she allowed to roam around at night? Parents should not allow their children to stay out late … what is the point of roaming around at night?” he said.

Mr Bhatti later backtracked on his comments, but not before Ms Kundu dismissed his questions as “none of his business.”

She said she was grateful through her ordeal to have been given a platform to challenge deep-seated patriarchal attitudes in modern Indian society.