Remarks were 'blown out of proportion': Dikshit

NEW DELHI: Facing flak for her comments on the murder of a young TV journalist, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has said her remarks were blown out of proportion and she was "enoromously horrified" by the incident.

She, however, maintained that employers should not allow women employees to go home alone late at night and should provide escort for their safety.

"It horrified me enormously...I am a woman myself. I have three sisters; I have two grand daughters. I think what I said was really blown out of proportion," Dikshit said.

"I used the phrase adventurous in two ways that travelling at three in the morning is not a safe thing for anybody to do and above all I think even for boys, travelling after 9 in the evening. Companies employing young girls and boys 24 hours for that matter should provide escort for the safety of our girls and boys," she said.

The Delhi Chief Minister came under attack from several quarters including politicians and women activists for her comments  on the murder of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan that "one should not be adventurous".

"I can tell you, I am deeply concerned about it and I would also like to tell you that women who are working in jobs that are 24 hours, they should be escorted by their employeers as safely as possible. Not to be allowed to go home at three in the morning all by themselves," she said.

"It has been a very sad incident and after that also there have been some incidents. So I think all of us should stand together as a society and see the safety of our young girls," she said replying to a question on security of working women in the capital.

Asked about the Batla encounter in which two suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists were killed, Dikshit said, "you must remember the police also acts on some information it gets."

"Had the police not done anything, everybody would have said the police had not done anything...All that I can say and plead is please have faith and please do not disturb this (investigation)," she said.