India, Oct. 14 -- The comment on the Durgapur rape by West Bengal chief minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee is only the latest in a long string of disquieting remarks made by top politicians on women's issues, especially around sexual violence and safety. Though Banerjee has since said that her words were distorted (a standard response), the suggestion that a 23-year-old MBBS student who was raped near a medical college in Durgapur was somehow responsible for the crime because she was out late at night has triggered outrage. Unfortunately, such attitudes are only too common and span political and ideological lines. Whether it be Union ministers blaming rising sexual crimes on boys and girls "roaming around" with each other, a CM saying parents ...