{"id":100475,"date":"2025-10-27T08:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T08:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=100475"},"modified":"2025-10-27T08:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T08:39:09","slug":"indian-minister-accused-of-victim-blaming-after-australian-cricketers-assault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=100475","title":{"rendered":"Indian minister accused of victim blaming after Australian cricketers\u2019 assault"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An Indian minister\u2019s comment that two female Australian cricketers, who were \u201ctouched inappropriately\u201d last week, should\u2019ve informed authorities before leaving their hotel has sparked a row with many accusing him of victim blaming.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred in Indore in Madhya Pradesh state on Thursday as the players were walking to a cafe. Police said the man who harassed them has been arrested.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s cricket board condemned the incident, which has sparked an outpouring of anger globally.<\/p>\n

But Kailash Vijayvargiya, a state minister, raked up a controversy by saying this was \u201ca lesson for authorities as well as the players\u201d who should have informed the security or administration before going out.<\/p>\n

Street harassment of women in India is rampant, but Thursday\u2019s incident made headlines as it involved international players visiting the country for a high-profile tournament, the Women\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

Cricket Australia\u00a0said in a statement\u00a0that the players \u201cwere approached and touched inappropriately by a motorcyclist\u201d the morning after Australia had beaten England.<\/p>\n

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was quick to condemn the harassment, calling it \u201ca deeply regrettable and isolated incident\u201d. It also vowed to \u201creview the existing safety protocols and strengthen them, if necessary, to ensure such incidents are not repeated\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar demanded swift punishment for the man who harassed the players. \u201cYou lock him up and throw the keys away. That\u2019s the only way such criminals should be treated,\u201d he told India Today TV channel.<\/p>\n

\"Indian<\/figure>\n

But Vijayvargiya, who looks after urban development and housing and parliamentary affairs in the state\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, seemed to put some of the onus on the players themselves to ensure they remained safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever a player steps out, just like when we step out, we tell a local. The players will also realise that in the future, if we step out, then we should tell the security or local administration,\u201d Vijayvargiya told reporters on Sunday.<\/p>\n

He went on to add that players should be cautious while stepping out since they have a huge fan following.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a craze for cricket here, like there is for football in England. I have seen football players having their clothes torn\u2026 So sometimes players don\u2019t realise their own popularity. Players are very popular, so they must take care whenever they step out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vijayvargiya\u2019s comments have made headlines in India where many have accused him of victim blaming and the minister has been called out for his statements by opposition politicians, media and many citizens.<\/p>\n

Opposition Congress party leader Arun Yadav called his statements \u201cdisgusting and regressive\u201d while singer Chinmayi Sripaada accused him of victim blaming.<\/p>\n

\u201cBJP Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya basically says here that women visiting another city\/country must be worried\/concerned\/think about their own safety when stepping out without telling anyone. So basically it was the women\u2019s fault,\u201d she\u00a0wrote\u00a0on X.<\/p>\n

Another user wrote that \u201cat a time when India\u2019s image has already taken a hit due to this shameful incident, such victim-blaming comments from a public representative only deepen the embarrassment\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of defending the city\u2019s dignity and condemning the culprits, the minister chose to lecture the victims, a response both tone-deaf and unbecoming of his office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vijayvargiya\u00a0later described the incident as \u201cshameful\u201d\u00a0and said strict action had been taken, but added that the players should have informed their security officer before going out.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Vijayvargiya has made news for statements that have been construed by many as being offensive to women.<\/p>\n

A few months back, he had made headlines for saying\u00a0he didn\u2019t like women wearing short or revealing clothes\u00a0and that in the past, he\u2019d refused to take photographs with them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"IndianAn Indian minister’s comment that two female Australian cricketers, who were “touched inappropriately” last week, should’ve informed authorities before leaving their hotel has sparked a row with many accusing him of victim blaming.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11310,11311,1910,10,9,11312],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian","category-indian-minister-accused-of-victim-blaming-after-australian-cricketers-assault","category-international","category-politics","category-popular","category-victim"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/100476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}