In a statement to the media, Uttar Pradesh Women’s Commission member Meena Kumari said that girls use mobile phones to talk to boys and then run away with them. Kumari was speaking during a public hearing on complaints of women in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday when she pinned the blame for rape on girls, The Times of India reported. The statement was given in response to a question on the alleged increase in the number of rape cases in the state.

This is not the first time when a member of a commission for women has blamed women for acts of harassment against them. In January, National Commission for Women’s Chandramukhi Devi had said that the gang rape and murder of a 50-year-old woman in Budaun, UP, could have been avoided if she had not stepped out alone in the evening.

The statement commission has distanced itself from Kumari’s statement, the TOI report added.

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NCW member shames Budaun gangrape victim for going out alone in evening, withdraws statement later