Former actor Celina Jaitly has spoken out amid the national outrage over the Kolkata doctor's rape and murder. Taking to X, Jaitly raged that the 'victim is always at fault'. Then, she recounted her traumatic experience from when she was in the sixth grade.
"...boys from a nearby university started to wait outside my school. They would follow the school rickshaw making catcalls all the way home every day," she said, adding that when she pretended not to notice them, they began throwing stones at her in the middle of the road to get her attention.
An angry Jaitly continued that no bystander had batted an eye, and her teacher had blamed her dressing for the ordeal. "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 added.
Jaitly continued that this was also the time when a man had 'flashed' his private parts at her when she was waiting for the ride to her school 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!," she said.
The Zinda actor recounted other instances from her life, all of which had ended in the woman getting blamed. Speaking of her time in Class 11, Jaitly said that 'university boys' who used to heckle her and leave lewd notes on her scooter had cut the brakes when she didn't acknowledge them. Her male classmates reportedly feared for her and informed the teachers. Here too, the class teacher blamed Jaitly.
"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," Jaitly said, recounting that she had even had to jump off her vehicle when the brake was cut, hurting herself physically and psychologically. She vented that despite this she was told it was still her fault.
She continued that her grandfather -- who had served in two wars -- had to escort her to and from school, but the boys' insolence was directed at him as well, as per Jaitly. She concluded her message, saying that it is time for women to stand up and ask for their rights to be protected, as they are not at fault.