“I Went Through The Worst Victim Shaming”: DCW Chief Swati Maliwal Recalls Harassment Case
How is okay to shame the victim?
In the latest episode of Hauterrfly’s The Male Feminist, the DCW chief Swati Maniwal, joined host–Siddharth Aalambayan to discuss her early life, childhood traumas and fighting for women’s rights in India. Amongst the many points and key subjects that Swati pointed at, she spoke about a terrible incident of being harassed on the roads of Delhi. After being named the youngest Chief elected at the Delhi Commission For Women, Swati tells how she herself became a victim of harassment and eve-teasing, while organising an inspection.
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As a part of the inspection, Swati ventured out at night, around 10.30 p.m. and stayed out late till 3.00 am. She mentions how a media channel volunteered to join her during this venture, to record the on-ground realities. Elaborating on the terrifying experience, Maliwal mentioned she was standing on the road at around 3 a.m when a man in a white car slowed down next to her and insisted to drop her. After being refused, the man continued to remain around the vicinity and pestered her to take his help.
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Even after multiple refusals, the man pressurised her to take his help, which led Maliwal to confront the guy. She lashed out at him and questioned. The man continued to offer her a ride and gave lewd/obscene gestures. Soon, Maliwal went to his side and tried to remove the car keys, in order to stop him. In response to this the man, angrily shut the window, without caring about her hand that was stuck in between. He continued to drive the car, and she was almost dragged until he saw the media’s camera on him. Swati soon filed a complaint with the Delhi police.
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She also mentions how the experience taught her so much and she went on to file a notice to the Delhi Police. She also sighted the example of the twenty-year-old Anjali, who was hit and murdered by four drunk men on new year’s eve. She also mentions that unfortunately after the incident she went through the worst victim shaming. She said, how some trollers called it a fake sting operation.
# swati maliwal liar#fake sexual harassment cases promoter
# radical feminists
# trapping innocent men just for her propaganda— chetan singh (@cschetansingh2) January 20, 2023
Like always, trolls have started victim shaming. A drunk man teases a woman and drags her with a car but trolls think he is a God. This is what every victim has to face: DCW chief Swati Maliwal@NewIndianXpress
The video of the alleged incident has gone viral on social media👇 https://t.co/Wtotn8oQqY pic.twitter.com/pi7SM813un— Ujwal Jalali (@ujwaljalali) January 20, 2023
After the case went on to go viral, many people on the internet, shamed Maliwal. She recalled the traumatic experience of being called out and schooled. Many took to Twitter and mentioned the many reasons that said it was her fault that she was standing there late at night. Some other trolls also said–”The man was trying to help you.” She says people accused her and said that she is the reason behind her own harassment. Some shocking comments by a female leader also accused her of standing so late on the road and wooing men around.
Also Read: “Father Would Bang Me Against The Wall”: DCW Chief Swati Maliwal On Childhood Trauma Fuelling Her Fight
Maliwal said the root cause of these shocking comments, is the patriarchal society, which only knows how to shame the victim. She explained how it is always the victim’s fault. Surprisingly when you want people to stand up for the right thing and support the girl who is harassed, they shamelessly troll her for firstly existing. This is definitely not something new that we’ve learnt. In many previous rape and murder cases, especially the ones that caught more attention, almost every girl who went through the traumatic experience, was questioned because of her clothes, being out till late and if she herself jumped into the situation. This is actually where the problem stems from, and the case never finds an end and fails to serve justice to the victims.
Watch the full episode here:
https://hauterrfly.com/empowerment/swati-maliwal-dcw-chief-explained-eve-teasing-incident-delhi-women-harassment/
