Former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai on Wednesday shared a video of DMK ally and Thiruchengode MLA ER Eswaran, accusing him of “victim shaming” while speaking about the recent Coimbatore gang rape case.
In the clip, Eswaran was seen suggesting that the presence of a man and woman together late at night amounted to “social degradation”.
“How to stop the social degradation of a man and a woman being in a spot without light at around 11.30pm?” he said, adding that society and community upbringing play a key role in preventing such incidents. “This is only in the way (they) are grown only when the community plays the role, crimes will be reduced,” he added.
Annamalai called the remarks “regressive” and alleged that the ruling DMK was using its allies as “mouthpieces to blame the victim”. He shared the video on X, criticising the comment amid growing outrage over the crime in Coimbatore.
The remark also drew criticism from Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK). The party’s general secretary, Aadhav Arjuna, pointed to public anger in Coimbatore and said DMK supporters were questioning why the survivor was out late. “Don’t you DMK people have sense? Women and men can go anywhere at any time and our leader will make that happen once he comes to power,” he said, referring to the incident as a “brutal rape”.
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