Samir Gandhi


Bike AP 09 L 1154
Saturday evening at 0615 PM i was driving thru Prakash nagar, Begumpet area and saw two guy passing on lewd remarks on girls..they were on a Bike AP 09 L 1154. and were trying to drive close to any auto or car having girls and near to girls walking by and hurling lewd comments at them.

I tried calling 100 but there was no response fir the first five minutes. After that they sped of towards somajiguda area. Again at 0630 pm i called back 100 and reported the incident but the operator on the other side was not at all attentive he just listened and said okay and kept the phone... I am still to sure if they are gonna act on my phone call.

We sure do miss a help line sort of thing for eve teasers and lechers. Though i have not travelled much but i always find guys staring at girls who are driving and they drive close them to stare thru the scarf / helmet.

What pained me more was the reaction on the Victims who just went on their way with out even considering to do something. I tried to ask one of them about it and she just ignored me.. and went away..

Pravin Sharma

Anybody who lives in Mumbai, knows about the locals here. At peak time, the locals are very crowded and the men stick out of the doors, climb on top of the roof...
I attend a Coaching Class which is located in Borivali for which I have to cross the Railway Tracks on foot. (Of Course, its illegal but there is no other way, the common bridge is quarter km away) Many people use the crossing to cross over to Borivali W from the Eastern side and Vice Versa,like me.
Its not that I hadnt heard about eve-teasing, I had assumed it to be a minor thing and never bothered to think too much about it. But all that changed last year. As I was waiting for a packed local to pass, with a few other people, I suddenly noticed several jeering voices, hooting and whistling. They were all coming from the local coming from Virar at 9:30 am.. To be honest, I had not expected such a thing to happen, so I was shocked for a moment. Then I saw the girl beside me hanging her head down in Humiliation and the commuters above (all of them, yes all of them) eyeballing her and whistling. What peturbed me the most was that the eve-teaser was not a single person but the entire train. I had to watch with sadness and helplessness as coach after coach passed and all the people inside each coach started howling. Maybe being in a group gave them some feeling of invincibility. I looked at the others nearby. Clearly they were uncomfortable too, trying to avoid looking at the train as much as possible. After the train passed, everyone including the girl went back to their business. I thought maybe they were used to it now.
I was left alone, feeling insecure,weak and helpless. I spent the entire day brooding over the incident.
Now I had to attend my class every alternate day. Whenever there happened to be a female (age didnt matter) the hootings began if she had to wait for the train to pass.A single guy whistled and the entire train followed him. The jeerings and tauntings were especially high if she was in a western outfit (not necessarily immodest, the kind of clothes you would not mind your sister wearing)
Even women aged 40 + were not spared.
Common phrases used were " Phone me coin Daal" (for someone using a cellphone) and some other unmentionable phrases.

In the evenings the train used to be relatively empty and I did not find the incidents happening . So obivously they felt safe in numbers.
Once I saw a group of girls (age maybe 13-14) become a victim to this. Yet I could only stand and watch as the train drifted away quickly.
Soon, I noticed the females who regularly crossed the tracks would wait at the street, behind a wall for the train to pass before they stepped on the railway tracks.
Now, I have become so used to this that it does not bother me anymore. I know that I am helpless, I cant do anything to stop it. The train wont stop and even if it would there is no way I can tackle 50-60 people on my own.
I just pray that someday, maybe I wouldnt have to wait for the train to pass with some member of my family.....
What I think is that these people are influenced too much by Indian Movies. In movies, usually the actress falls for cheap antics and cheesy dialogues by the actor. Maybe they think what they are doing is right after watching these movies..
So thats it.

Jasmeen

Immersing myself in the issue of street sexual harassment has made me calmer or less angry in some ways. I am set on being part of the process of communication rather than immediate reaction. Taking the position of the communicator makes me want to address rather than react.

There is irrational rage, the kind of rage that does not allow someone to see, hear, think, feel. How do you communicate with a very very angry person?

I was walking down Brigade Road, looking forward to a very sinful deathbychocolate at the Cornerhouse and then suddenly I saw a man trip on the road. A scooter hit him. The person on the scooter was a woman, perhaps middle aged, in helmet and sari. She apologized.
He got up and started screaming at her.
I walked to the site- at first wondering if they were a couple and that he had fallen off or whether he was a person crossing the road who had tripped.

She had tears in her eyes.

He was yelling at her in kannada.

" You don't know how to drive. you stupid woman!"

I stood there repeating ,"Stop it. She has said sorry. Please stop it".

...and then before I knew it, he slapped her.

I was looking around and there was no one coming to the site.
I didn't pull his hand back because he could have slapped me.

I was left repeating ," how could you slap her? why did you slap her? she apologized for the accident, you did not have to slap anyone!"


" Will you pay for my injury?"


I don't know of his injury. He was walking as normal.
I turned around , still repeating the same questions, and getting no answers.

I saw a woman on the pavement, fuming with rage , walking upto her husband, screaming,
"why doesn't anyone come to help?!"

I looked at her and asked her why she didnt come to help.
"why were you standing here and watching too?!"

She walked upto that man and screamed
" How dare you? How dare you , you bastard?! you fucking bastard?! how dare you slap a woman?!!"

" How dare you call me a f$!@£!@ b£@$@£$?! you whore?!"

I continued to ask him why he hit her. I asked him to not deviate from the point.
I repeated- "why did you have to slap her?! "
My question was ignored.

The woman's husband pulled her away and yelled at the man who had met with the accident- he was swearing too.

We told him to come with us to the police station for slapping a woman. He said yes but the woman has gone.

A crowd had gathered. finally.

The man disappeared.

Some said- you are just 2 women. Dont get into these things. He will harm you.
Some said- you are right. We also saw this. how dare he misbehave.
Some said- nothing will come of this.

We stood on the pavement asking why no one came to support?

A middle aged man on his bike commented, " Next time there should be more male supporters and the only way we can deal with him is by bashing him up. That's the only 'solution'."

I was warned to not continue walking in the direction that I was. I was going to catch an auto rickshaw home. I walked the other way round, another route, just incase he was hiding, waiting for a prey. I hated having to do that. and I hated not having been able to do more than stare, ask a question that remained unanswered. I am glad that there was a crowd and there was an angry woman but is rage the answer to rage?

Thupten


If Only


It was just another weekend at a hip club in the ‘party capital’ of India. There, the multi-ethnic young crowd was having a gala time relaxing away from their hectic weekly schedules. Many were seen simply indulging in various forms of alcohol (ala cocktails, shooters, etc etc) while some were busy shaking a leg or two to the groovy hip-hop tunes by the DJ under strobe lights. Alcohol, beautiful people, good ambience, psychedelic lighting and pulsating music thumping from the gargantuan speakers; the night was young and happening. And, I with my posse was having a ball.
In an alcohol induced stupor & loud music, dancing the night away; time simply flew(or at least it seemed so). And, lo, it was almost dawn and the DJ spinned away his last track for the night. Hence, the party came to a gradual end. For starters, I was exhausted after dancing like a demented lunatic (for like 4-6 hours) and to add to that the euphoria-inducing effect(s) of alcohol was fading away, leaving behind a mild yet splitting headache. So, I was resting.

While, I was drowsy and impatiently waited for my friends (who had vanished like Houdini! with their dates I might add); a hushed conversation (in hindi) nearby caught my attention. Phrases like “Abey isse kahan le jana hai?”( where do we take her) and “maza lenge” ( we will have some fun) struck my ears. I turned around, only to see a “firang” girl (most probably of Russian origin) clinging on to this shady-looking guy who looked like the ringleader of this gang of ‘local’ miscreants.
And, it was this very guy who was making these nefarious plans. I was worried. I tried to make eye contact with the girl, possibly to signal her about the imminent danger or atleast give her a cue. But, the girl in her carousal, simply smiled at me; completely oblivious the impending peril. I was frustrated.
So, seeing no other option, I was honor bound to intervene and to prevent this ‘probable’ heinous act from happening. But, seeing their numbers, I decided to ask my friend(s) for backup. I asked the friend who was sitting nearby. But, to my utter dismay, when I explained the dire circumstances; instead of being agitated or worried, he coolly stated:

These guys look like locals and hence could be dangerous
The stupid girl is asking for it clinging onto this shady looking guy.
Not to act like a “hero” unless I wanted to be stabbed/shot at (that too for a stranger)

Appalled by his reaction, I looked around for my other friend(s). But, to no avail as they too responded in a similar, cold, heartless and blunt manner.

I was frustrated with their reactions but ever after berating them for a while, they didn’t show the least interest in my concerns. And, they almost dragged me outside and into the car. I half-heartedly left the club, worried about the girl (not that I had any right to, a coward that I was)
And I left.
Alas.

I have never forgiven myself for leaving that night and leaving that hapless girl to those wretched mongrels. And god knows whatever happened to that girl, I still wonder. I did pray and wished for her safety & and to this day would like to believe that nothing “untoward” happened to her.
But, I am also aware of the fact that this world is not some righteous utopia and India (esp. Delhi is not a safe haven for women in general). And, also there is a very high probability that “the girl” was sexually assaulted that night.
And, even though I was aware of her plight.

I DID NOTHING!!
And, I am to blame.
Sigh. Her smiling face has been etched on my brain and is a grim reminder of my cowardice. Everyday I look at myself, that incident made me realize that I have failed all my ideals, ethics and morals I firmly believed in.
If only, I had intervened.
If only…

Asavari

Honestly I don't know.. I feel guilty about it.. I was in the car with my dad driving me back home late at night and on the way we crossed a lil shady kinda lane.. It was late at night about 12:30 am.. I saw a young girl walking on the side of the road and some disgusting men in a rickshaw and on bikes hooting at her.. I could see she was uncomfortable and trying to avoid them.. It wasn't a desolated place but that area is not too good, you know what i mean... And our car had the windows up so my dad did not notice it happening but I did.. I don't know what made me not react.. Though I was disturbed but I don't know why I dint tell my dad to stop the car and offer to drop her home.. I often regret this.. Maybe it was some sort of fear in my subconscious mind..

How would you like the public to support?
Help me get the pervet/s arrested.. coz ofcourse it is a crime!

Abhay

i got near the girl so that if she opposes i can lend support but she just walked off...it was a case of guy on bike passing some comment to a girl.

I could have only supported the girl if she shows some courage....for a complete stranger you dont know if it was a eve teasing also or not.
May be they are lovers.

But girls have to show some resistance so that people around can help out

people should come forward and show symapthy to the girl ..try to let eve teasers know that we are not dumb and deaf

have you ever seen someone else
experience street sexual harassment?
did you intervene and support the survivor?
did you walk away?
PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORY
OF BEING A SPECTATOR TO STREET
SEXUAL HARASSMENT OR 'EVE TEASING'
BY FILLING THE FORM HERE.

THIS BLOG WILL BE UPDATED EVERY WEEKEND.
THANK YOU- YOURS TRULY- BLANK NOISE TEAM

via meghana naidu on the bn bangalore mailing list:

Saugata Chatterjee

A few of my friends and I were just paying our bills and coming out of
our regular Friday night watering hole and dinner place in Rest House
Road, just off Brigade Road, and most of the women in the company were
already standing outside. Some of us outside were smoking, people were
happy, there was laughter and jokes, as there were many other people
in the street, all coming out, satiated, in the closing hour of the
various pubs and restaurants around.

Suddenly from up the street a massive SUV comes revving and speeding,
hurtling down, and stops in a scream of brakes and swirling dust,
millimeters away from this group of 4 women, barely missing one of
their legs. A white Audi, imported, still under transfer, with the
registration plate of KA-51 TR-2767. Some millionaire's toy thing,
that in the wrong hands can kill.

Naturally the women are in shock. And quickly following the shock
comes indignation. These are self made women running their own
businesses, managing state responsibilities for global NGO firms,
successful doctors. They are not used to being bullied. So they turn
around, instead of shrinking back in fear. They protest.

And as soon as they turn around in protest, the car doors are flung
open, and a stream of 4-5 rabid men run out towards these women,
screaming obscenities in Hindi and Kannada against women in general,
fists flailing. Some of us who came in running at the sound of the
screaming brakes now stand in the middle in defense of our women, and
then blows start raining down. One of the goons make a couple of calls
over the cellphone, and in seconds a stream of other equally rabid
goondas land up. They gun straight for the women, and everyone – a few
well-meaning bystanders, acquaintances who know us from the
restaurant, basically everyone who tries to help the women – starts
getting thoroughly beaten up.

Women are kicked in the groin, punched in the stomach, slapped across
the face, grabbed everywhere, abused constantly. Men are smashed up
professionally, blows aimed at livers, groins, kidneys and nose. A
friend is hit repeatedly on the head by a stone until he passes out in
a flood of blood.

A plain-clothes policeman (Vittal Kumar) who saunters in late stands
by watching and urging people to stop, but doing absolutely nothing
else. A 'cheetah' biker cop comes in, with our women pleading him to
stop this madness, but he refuses action, saying a police van will
come in soon and he cannot do anything. Everyone keeps getting
hammered. Relentlessly.

The carnage continues for over 20 minutes.

Finally when the police van does come in it is this vandals who are
raging and ranting, claiming to be true "sons of the Kannadiga soil",
and we are positioned to be the villainous outsiders, bleeding,
outraged. How do the cops believe them, especially seeing the bloody
faces of our men and the violated rage of our women, while they carry
nary a scratch on their bodies? Don't ask me! Yet, it is us who these
goondas urge the newly arrived law-keepers to arrest, and the police
promptly comply, and we are bundled into the van, some still being
beaten as we are pushed in. Some blessed relief from pain inside the
police van at least, even if we are inside and the real goons outside,
driving alongside in their spanking white Audi. The guy who was hit by
the stone is taken separately by the women to Mallya hospital.

Inside the police station at Cubbon Park it becomes clear that these
goons and the police know each other by their first names. The
policeman in charge (Thimmappa) initially refuses to even register any
complaint from me, on the purported grounds that I am not fluent in
Kannada and I have taken a few drinks (3 Kingfisher pints, to be
precise) over the evening. No, it doesn't matter that I didn't have my
car and was not driving, and no, it doesn't mater that the complaint
will be written in English. We watch them and the goons exchange
smiles and nods with our our bloodied and swelling eyes and realize in
our pain-clouded still-in-shock brains the extent of truth in the
claim of one of the main goons when he claimed earlier in the evening
in virulent aggression: we own this town, this car belongs to an MLA,
we will see how you return to this street!!

This was the turning point of the saga, I guess. For we refused to lie
down quietly and be victims.

One of our girls, a vintage and proud Bangalorean who is running one
of the town's most successful organic farming initiatives, took upon
herself to write the complaint, when I was not allowed to write the
same. Another Bangalore girl, a state director of a global NGO firm,
wrote the other molestation complaint separately on behalf of all the
girls. Some of us called our friends in the media and corporate world.
Everyone stepped up. And even when the odds were down and we were out,
we did not give up, and as a singular body of violated citizens we
spoke in one voice of courage and indomitable spirit. That voice had
no limitation of language, not Kannada, nor English, or Hindi. It was
the voice of human spirit that cannot be broken.

And in the face of that spirit, for the first time, we saw the ugly
visage of vandalism, hiding behind the thin and inadequate veil of
political corrupt power, narrow-vision regionalism and self-serving
morality, start to wilt.

We spent 6 hours next day in the police station. The sub-inspector of
police who filed our FIR, Ajay R M, seemed a breath of fresh air
inasmuch that he did not appear a-priori biased like others, even
though the hand of corruption and politico-criminal power backing
these goons was still manifest in many ways: a starched, white-linen
power-broker walked in handing over his card to the sub-inspector in
support of the goons; the goons got an audience with the Inspector
because of this intervention, while we had to interact one level lower
down in the hierarchy; the plains cloth policeman of last night, even
though he had arrived far too late in the crime scene, gave a warped
statement, passing it off as a "neutral" point of view, repeatedly
stressing that we came out of a pub and hence were drinking,
positioning this as a 'drunken brawl', while completely forgetting to
mention the unprovoked attack against the women and the one-sided
vandalism and violence that ensued. I guess one cannot blame the low
ranked police officer – the criminal connections of these goons must
be pervasive enough for him to be careful.

Thanks however to the impartial handling of the situation by Ajay,
soon the goons were all identified. The lead actor was one Ravi
Mallaya (38), a real estate honcho and owner of a small property off
Brigade Road which he has converted into a "gaming" (you know what
that means, don't you?) adda. The others identified are Mohan Basava
(22) of Chamarajapet 12th Cross, R. Vijay Kumar Ramalingaraju (25) and
Shivu Rajashekar (20). All are residents of 12th & 13th Cross in
Vyalikaval. Their bravado and machismo were by that time evaporated.
It was good to see their faces then.

Of course nothing much happened to them, nor did we expect it. They
were supposed to be in lock up for at least the weekend till they were
produced in court, but we understand that they were quickly released
on (anticipatory?) bail. The car, purportedly belonging to an MLA,
also does not figure in the FIR, apparently for reasons of
"irrelevance to the case".The media also have given us fantastic
coverage and support so far, strengthening the cause.

The goons meanwhile, as an after thought, also filed the customary
reverse complaint on the morning after we filed our own complaint: the
women have apparently scratched the car! (Why did they not file the
complaint the same night, considering they came to the Police Station
in the same car? Why was the car allowed to be taken off police
custody? Why is the car still irrelevant to the case and not in the
FIR? Questions.. questions..).

Is this the end of this saga? Probably not. Are these women, more
precious to us as friends and wives than most things in our lives,
safe to walk or drive down Brigade Road from now on or are the goonda
elements, slighted by this arrest and disgrace, are lying in ambush,
waiting, biding their time to cause some of us more grievous harm? We
don't know. Is there reason for us to remain apprehensive of future
attacks and victimization? Perhaps.

But here is the point.

We stood up.

We believed in the power of individual citizens even in the face of
hooliganism, intolerance, corruption and power mongering. Even though
many of us have the option of leveraging political or government
connections, we deliberately chose to fight this battle as
individuals. Sure, these connections have been activated and they have
been kept informed, should the worst case scenario unfold tomorrow.
But we have chosen to not leverage them. And in every small win we
register as a group of individual outraged citizens of Bangalore and
India, however insignificant these milestones may be in the larger
scheme of things, there is one small notch adding up in favor of what
is right, one small notch against what is wrong. And we believe that
every such small notch counts, each such mark is absolutely
invaluable.

It is the people who make this city, this country, this world. It is
you and I, as much as the terrorists inside and outside. And in our
small insignificant little ways, it is my responsibility and yours to
not shirk from investing effort – not just lip service or any token
attempt, but real effort – in backing up what we ourselves believe in.
It is so easy to logically argue that everything is corrupt, nothing
is worth it, there are so many risks involved. We must not fall trap
to this escapist trend. We must not fail to try.

Next time you feel outraged, violated, abused, don't let it go by and
add up to your list of litanies and complaints. Stand up and take it
to the limit - at least your own limit. Not in the same way as they
wrong you, but in the way that every citizen, at least in theory, is
entitled to complain and protest. Do not let the hooligans power rant
scare you or prompt you into submission. Do not allow the corrupt cop
make you give up trying. Carry the flame forward. Try harder.

If are up to it, start right now.

Forward this note to everyone you want to be made aware of this. Post
it in your own blogs. Talk about it amongst your circles. And if
anyone of you should like to step forward with a word of empathy or
advise, talk to me. Comment.

It is not Bangalore that is going to the dogs. It is us. We have far
too long become accustomed to let everything go. And the more we let
things go without any protest or fight, the dormant criminal and dark
elements of the society get that much more encouraged. Every time we
turn the other way, the hooligan next street gets incentivized to push
the boundary a little further, provoke a little more, try something a
little more atrocious. It is time for us to refuse to let this go on.
We are responsible for making ourselves proud. Lets believe in
ourselves. We can do this.

My name is Saugata Chatterjee. And I am standing up.I refuse to let
Bangalore go to the hooligan slumdogs, even if some of them are pets
of corrupt power millionaires.

Justy

i have seen a woman being whisteled on, but ignored because i did not know i could do something to the guy whistling. what's more, i might fall into trouble if i helped say shout at the guy or so.

i never made a scene.

i have experienced street sexual harassment a lot. no one have ever helped me.
i would like to see the public supporting me by shouting at the perpetrator. especially in cases of comments and whistiling. at least those are the ones i really get to experience.