Swara Bhasker: Women’s safety has become a crisis in India

Mumbai, Sep 26 (IANS) Actress Swara Bhasker has opened up on the consequences faced by victims in the Unnao and Chinmayanand cases, and raised a serious question on womens safety.

"Women's safety has become a crisis in India. We have a situation where at least three high profile members, who hold elected office are accused of rape. In the case of Unnao and Chinmayanand, the victims have had to face serious personal consequences for reporting rape. This is an alarm for our entire society. We need our lawmakers to walk the talk with regards to women's safety," Swara shared with IANS.

The victim in the Unnao case, who was allegedly kidnapped and raped by expelled Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in 2017, had an accident in July this year. She was admitted to Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for two months and discharged yesterday. Now her family fears going back to their hometown because they are apprehensive about their safety.

The law student who has accused BJP leader Chinmayanand of rape, has been arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police on charges of extortion and blackmailing. The Shahjahanpur student has alleged that she was raped by Chinmayanand for over a year.

Swara has raised her voice regarding the consequences faced by these rape victims. Yesterday, she tweeted reacting to the news of the Chinmayanand victim's arrest shared by a journalist. "Beti inhi se bachao!! (save your daughter from such people) Shame!!" she wrote.

The actress also shared how she was trolled after tweeting her opinion. "I tweeted regarding the same and one user/ troll made fun of the victim's ordeal by asking if I was raped as well, with a smile at the end of the sentence. I reacted by using an expletive because I feel that sometimes people who use abusive language or try to slut shame women by cracking rape jokes need to be reminded that women can swear as well," she said.

Taking a dig at misogynists, the actress added: "I don't think it's fair to expect women to brave the risk of being raped, the threat of arrest if it's reported and also bear the burden of being dignified in the face of abuse. Sometimes misogynists have to hear it like it is."

On the work front, Swara will next be seen in a web series titled "Rasbhari". She has also started working on her own production, a movie based on the life of a con artist.