“People should know – they need to know – that the length of your dress, whatever dress, be it shorts, tights, crop tops...be it anything…it doesn’t give a man the right to touch us, to rape us. Our body is our body.”Aditi, Shivani’s friend, to The Quint
On Tuesday, 30 April, an IGTV video posted by Shivani Gupta caught everyone’s attention. In the video, Shivani and her friends were seeking an apology from a woman, who allegedly told them that they “deserved to be raped” because of the length of Shivani’s dress.
The girls asked the woman to apologise for her comment but she stood her ground.
“We were seeking an apology because that’s what our friend here deserved. That’s what any other girl in this situation deserves. She is not supposed to be blamed for the length of her dress, the make-up that she puts. She’s doing it for herself, she is not doing it for anyone else.”Neha, Shivani’s friend, to The Quint
According to the girls, the altercation began when the woman asked Shivani, “Aren’t you ashamed of showing off your legs?”
She also allegedly addressed seven men at the restaurant and said, “You should rape them. You should rape all three of them.”
“When I said (asked) her if this is what she teaches her daughter and son – to stay in and her son to rape – her exact dialogue was, ‘I wish you three get raped right now’.”Aditi, Shivani’s friend, to The Quint
The verbal spat ended with the woman in question facing the camera and saying, “Hello guys, this lady wants to wear short dresses to encourage all to see them. All the ladies wear (these) short dresses, or are naked... to (get) rape(d) (sic).”
The Quint reached out to Shivani for a first-person account of the events that had transpired, leading to the altercation in the video uploaded online. Shivani, along with her friends who were part of the confrontation in a Gurugram mall, recorded the above video and sent it to The Quint.
‘I Was Harsh and Incorrect in My Statement’: Woman in the Video Tenders Apology
The woman in the video later took to social media to tender an “unconditional apology to all the girls” for her “harsh and incorrect statement”.
“If any, I should have offered my opinion in private. I was concerned,” she wrote in her Facebook post.
Stating that she should have been “protective and progressive in her outlook”, the woman said “As a wife, sister and a mother and more importantly as a woman, I value every woman's dignity.”
“Once again, I profusely apologise to all women whose sentiments have been hurt,” her Facebook post read.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)