Mumbai: Amid the news of Kolkata doctor’s murder and rape has angered the nation, actress Celina Jaitly come out and spoken about how the “victim is always at fault” and recalled an unsavoury moment about how once a man flashed his “private parts” at her.
Celina, who is also a former beauty queen, took to Instagram on Saturday, and shared an image from her grade six days.
“THE VICTIM IS ALWAYS AT FAULT : In this pic I was in 6th grade only when boys from a nearby university started to wait outside my school.They would follow the school rickshaw making catcalls all the way home everyday,” Celina wrote.
She said she pretended not to notice them and “a few days later because of that they started throwing stones at me in the middle of the road to get my attention. Not one bystander batted an eye.”
Celina was victim shamed by her teacher.
“I was told by a teacher: It was because I was ‘too westernised and did not wear loose clothes and did not tie my hair in two braids with oil it was my fault !’”
She recalled an unsavoury moment and said for years she blamed herself for it.
Celina said: “It was also at this age when a man first flashed his private parts to me while waiting for the school rickshaw in the morning. For many years I blamed myself for this incident which I kept to myself running the words of the teacher again and again in my mind that it was MY FAULT! (sic).”
She went on to recall how she was harassed when she was in grade 11.
“I still remember they cut the wire of my scooty’s brakes because I was not acknowledging the university boys who heckled and called me rude names & left lewd notes on my scooty.
“My male class mates got scared for me and told our teachers. My class teacher called me and told me ‘You come across as a FORWARD type of girl, riding a scooty and wearing jeans to extra classes with short open hair that’s why boys think you are of a loose character’ It was always my fault.
“I still remember that day jumping off my scooty to save myself because of my brake wires being cut off.”
She said she was hurt badly and “yet it was my fault”.
“My Scooty was damaged… I was both physically and psychologically hurt… And I was told it was MY FAULT! My retired Colonel Grandfather who fought two wars for our country in his old age had to take to escorting me back n forth to school…” Celina recounted.
“I still remember those rude boys who chased me even damaging my scooty they also passed derogatory remarks on my retired colonel grandfather making fun of him. Nana stood and stared at them and then he turned away shook his head and I could read his face as he walked away with me.”
“His disgust at the very people he laid his life on line for. It’s time to stand up and ask for our right to be protected WE ARE NOT AT FAULT ! #kolkatadoctordeath #kolkata #womensrights #celinajaitly,” she said.
–IANS