Tamil director Bhagyaraj faces backlash for comments on 'women creating situations that lead to sexual assault'

Tamil film director Bhagyaraj has recently faced online backlash for his misogynistic comments. At the music launch of Karuthukalai Pathivu Sei in Bengaluru, Bhagyaraj shared his opinion on incidents of sexual assault, and pinned the blame on the survivors. “Women create a situation that allows mistakes to happen. Things will be alright if you (women) behave correctly. You can’t always only blame boys,” he said, according to The Indian Express . [caption id=“attachment_7707651” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Bhagyaraj. Image from Twitter[/caption] The report further adds his remarks were met with applause and cheer from the audience. Karuthukalai Pathivu Sei is based on the infamous Pollachi sexual harassment case, where a gang of men had allegedly tried to strip a woman in a car, and then attempted to shoot a video of her. They also blackmailed her with the visuals, demanding money. Bhagyaraj even defended the perpetrators of the case, and said the men were not responsible but only took advantage of the women’s weakness. “You gave them that opportunity and that is a big mistake,” he said. The director said such crimes can be avoided by women if they “self-regulate themselves.” He argued a man can emotionally juggle relationships with multiple women. In his view, the same does not apply for women. He then said how there are cases about a wife killing husband to be with her lover. His remarks were widely criticised by social media users