The Haryana State Commission for Women (HSCW) head Renu Bhatia’s remarks on ‘girls who accompany their boyfriends to OYO hotels..’ stoked a major outrage on social media with many demanding her resignation from her role.
“Girls who accompany their boyfriends to OYO hotels know they are not going to conduct aarti and then complain of being raped and blackmailed, she reportedly said earlier this week at a college in Kaithal.
Bhatia cautioned women to avoid staying in hotels with their partners while speaking at the RKSD College in Kaithal on Tuesday.
She went on to say that these ladies afterward complain about being offered intoxicating beverages, assaulted, and blackmailed.
Bhatia was called to speak at a ceremony to raise awareness about legislation and cybercrime. While discussing cases of sexual assault, she deemed women equally responsible for the harm they endured.
“We receive reports from girls alleging that they befriended a boy. The kid took the woman to an OYO hotel one day and forced her to consume something in her cold drink. “He did bure karma (bad deeds) with her, made a video of her, and now he is blackmailing her (sic),” she added, adding that such allegations are widespread these days.
Bhatia, a former Haryana BJP secretary further said that girls know very well that when they go to ‘such a place’, they are not going there to ‘recite Hanuman ji’s aarti’.
She went on to warn young women that “anything bad can happen to us in the name of friendship when we go to such a place (a hotel).”
“We have grown so mature in other areas that we understand what we require from our parents. However, as children complete Class 12, they begin to feel as if they had wings, like an udan khatola (flying machine). Girls begin to believe that they are no longer bound by school uniforms and may wear anything they choose. They want to dress in the most recent fashion. Boys believe they are now free of schoolbags and will have a bike and a girlfriend,” she added.
