KOLKATA July 29, 2012
Bengali Actor and Trinamool Congress legislator Chiranjeet Chakraborty waded into controversy
on Saturday, correlating a woman’s dress with eve teasing. He also sought to downplay an incident of harassment of a girl in his constituency saying that there was nothing new about eve teasing.
The incident occurred on Friday evening in Barasat in North 24 Parganas,where over a year ago a youth had to give his life, trying to protect his sister from getting teased by some drunken youths. The incident created a furore during the rule of the previous government. In the fresh incident, a student returning home from her tuition classes was harassed by some youths.
Her father was also heckled when he tried to protest.
When his comments were sought, Mr. Chakraborty, a first time legislator and Tollywood artiste, said: “Tell me… can you imagine a movie without a villain, could Ramayana have been written without Ravana’s role… eve teasing
is very old… but the preparation is made by the involvement of girls.”
“Their dresses have changed in tune with times… skirts have become shorter to appeal to men… that should be appreciated… but when it attracts taunts and comments… it becomes a case for eve teasing… it is undesirable though,”the law maker said almost as an afterthought. He said police patrol had been increased and the lighting in the areas around the Barasat station had been improved recently.
His comments drew wide criticism from within the government as well as from across society.
Minister for Women and Social Welfare Sabitri Mitra said dress and style had nothing to do with eve teasing, which was more linked to a state of mind.“It is a mental perversion. It is a social malady. If the manner of dressing was the culprit then village belles in sarees and salwar kameez would not have faced harassment.
She deplored the Barasat incident saying the culprits had been booked.
Mr. Chakraborty appeared unfazed, insisting later that he had spoken as a guardian.
Mamata refuses comment
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday refused to comment on a statement made by actor and Trinamool Congress legislator Chiranjeet that short dresses worn by women were one of the reasons behind the increase in incidents of harassment.”I don’t know anything about it,” Banerjee said when asked to comment on the statement made by her party MLA.
Trinamool MLA clarifies remark
However, after facing criticism, Chiranjeet tried to clarify his statement. “I had said that keeping in mind the well-being of the teenaged girls. The comments are nothing but reflections of the concerns that a father, elder brother or a guardian has regarding their teenage daughters or sisters,” he said
kracktivist 
Jul 30, 2012 @ 00:41:54
Men “thinking” with what they have between their legs instead of what they have between their ears is what causes sexual harassment. She could be wearing niqab, abaya AND burqa and he’s still see her as an object to harass sexually.