The hashtag #AintNoCinderella has taken off across India after local Bharatiya Janata Party's Ramveer Bhatti said Varnika Kundu, a DJ from Chandigarh in northern India, was at fault for being stalked.
Varnika her experience of two men in an SUV following her as she attempted to drive home one evening last week.
"Was almost kidnapped on Chandigarh Road last night," she wrote.
Varinka said she first noticed she was being followed when an SUV began swerving alongside her car.
"I tried to turn right from the lights but the SUV blocked my way, forcing me to go straight into sec-26.
"At the next turn, I tried to turn again, but this time they went a step further.
"Right at the turn, they blocked the road in front of my car, and the guy in the passenger seat got out of the car and started walking towards me."
She said she was able to reverse and call the police, but the two men began chasing her again.
"I was in a full-blown panic attack by now," she wrote. "My hands shaking, my back spasming from fear, half in tears, half bewildered, because I didn't know if I'd make it home tonight."
Just as they had cornered her again and one of the men got out and tried to open her car door, the police showed up and arrested the pair.
"I find it shocking, that in a place with cameras at every light and cops every 200 metres, these boys thought they could either get into my car, or take me into theirs," she wrote.
While her post has been shared more than 6,000 times and peppered with outrage towards the men, a local politician issued a contrasting message.
According to India's English-language channel CNN News 18, Ramveer Bhatti, the state vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, said, "The girl should not have gone out at 12 in the night.
"Why was she driving so late in the night? The atmosphere is not right. We need to take care of ourselves."
And the Times of India quoted him saying: "Parents must take care of their children. They shouldn't allow them to roam at night. Children should come home on time."
His stance spurred an opposing chain reaction on Twitter, with women posting photos of themselves out at night accompanied by the #AintNoCinderella hashtag.
