Recently, Chinmayi Sripaada shared an incident where her husband, actor Rahul Ravindran, asked their two-year-old daughter for a hug, and when she refused, he respected her decision and didn't force her. Her post met with mixed reactions, and the singer has now explained her stance on 'consent'.

What exactly happened

An X user reacted to the singer's recent Instagram Stories about her daughter and husband, tweeting in Tamil, "Well, if this is the case for a 2-year-old girl child or a boy child, if the mother comes to hug him, would you say the same thing?" 

Chinmayi responded with, "If MY daughter does not want to be hugged by me, her mother, who carried her and her twin brother, and birthed her at ANY given point in time - I'll let her be until she is ready for a hug."

She added, “I am not going to force her to hug me because I want it. The same applies to my son. If you don’t get it you do NOT understand consent. And you never will and will keep forcing people and kids to do what YOU want them to do when YOU want it. Across languages the concept of consent is lost on many. No wonder fragile egos cant take no for answer.”

Twitter reacts to Chinmayi's remarks about daughter

Many others also shared their take on Chinmayi's post. One tweeted, "You have failed as a human being if your children feel unsafe from you, anyways they are too innocent and naive to start to think like that. Children are of course taught to be wary of strangers, but to be wary from their own parents means you have failed as a human being."

The singer responded to the tweet, writing, "My husband told her he respects her autonomy. Any sane man would understand that unfortunately there are more insane men here than anything. And yes I can see how your child’s consent will. Be constantly violated the way you speak." The person then told the singer, "I can only say people like you distrust humans too much and perhaps you should look into yourselves before blaming others. Not everyone is evil and as I can see, it's like blowing horns in front of a lazy bull."

‘Little people should be given the respect too’

Some supported Chinmayi. A person tweeted, "Telling a 'no' to something could be because of various reasons other than feeling unsafe with them." A tweet also read, "It’s true that most children are abused by someone very close, often their own parents. But that’s not even what this is about. A child might not want to hug you for many reasons, if you don’t respect that and force them it only teaches them the lesson that they need to let." Another person tweeted, "How does respecting her child's wishes makes her child unsafe?"

An X user also tweeted, “She is absolutely right in teaching them the importance of consent early on. There should be no physical touch with any kids without their consent. That's what would ensure their safety from prey.” Another wrote, “Little people should be given the respect too, no? Teach them early on about consent? You don’t have to offer a cynical explanation to them but let them know their consent carries weight. It’s a tool they can use to protect themselves. And who better to teach that to them than.”

New tweets

The singer on Tuesday in a long note spoke about how she has 'routinely spoken of things and received massive abuse'. She tweeted, “Speaking of Consent and Boundaries in a Country that kills their daughter if she marries according to her wish - In a land where Soup Boy who abuses his girlfriend who leaves him - is a Hero. I routinely have spoken of things which has received massive abuse and a Hurttttu Batch will even file a complaint. Meme/media pages are a festering cesspool of the most abusive comments you’ll see from people. I have always called this out which the culture here has normalised...”

She added, "Of all things to make an issue when I said ‘My Daughter’ whereas nobody with common sense should have an issue when a parent says ‘My’. But - I am expecting common sense from a lot whose standard response to anything that they don't like from a woman is Shut Up Lanja or say my Husband is Gay. Before kids the same lot made comments on infertility- now they say IVF Surrogacy and question who the father actually is. May everyone know and understand what sort of people abound in society here..." In other tweets, she slammed people bringing in old surrogacy allegations.

Chinmayi gave birth to twins, a son and a daughter, on June 18, 2022. The singer had shared her baby news, following which a section of online users had claimed her babies were born via surrogacy. Chinmayi had in 2023 shared many posts explaining why she did not share her baby bump photos.