Women's Safety - Rohtak Eve Teasing Case

In a shameful incident highlighting concerns about women's safety while at the same time in a rare show of courage and strength of character against eve teasing, two sisters fought three men who were reportedly harassing them onboard a bus in Haryana. The two college-going girls thrashed the men inside a Haryana Roadways Bus as fellow passengers played mute spectators to the episode.

The alleged eve-teasers used derogatory language and made obscene gestures before the girls retaliated. The incident took place on Friday last week. According to news reports, the brave girls, Aarti and Pooja, thrashed the molester even as they were themselves assaulted by him. The girls hit the youth with a belt. 

Woman is like a tea bag, you cannot tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.

The matter came to light after a woman travelling in the same state transport bus recorded the incident on her mobile phone. An amateur video footage shot revealed that the girls were pushed by the men after they protested against the obscene language and gestures.

Unfortunately, girls fought alone, none of the passengers helped the girls, it was a government bus and neither the driver nor the conductor did anything to avert the situation, looking at the events and the way they occurred, it seems we live in a nation of mutes. According to news channels the conductor told the girls to stop hitting the molesters as they would later rape the girls, or pour acid on them and throw away bodies not to be found anywhere.  

As they unfolded the entire incident, one of the sisters said, "The girls boarded the bus from Rohtak bus stand, and a boy started teasing them by trying to give his phone number to them. When girls protested, he called his friends and they started making obscene gestures. When one of the girl walked up to him asking not to make such gestures, he grabbed her by the neck while others held back her sister."

To rescue her sister, who was being grabbed by the neck, the other sister said she took out her belt and attacked the eve teasers. The two sisters fought the eve teasers but the co-passengers did not seem to intervene. Finally, the girls were thrown out of the bus.

None of the passengers did anything while this all happened, none of them intervened or even called police; the driver continued driving the bus as if all was normal. I am afraid it’s December and all I can recall is Delhi Rape Case incident, if we all have not forgotten it, living our complicated and busy lives.

The brave heart sisters reached home and with their parents they filed an FIR. Meanwhile, police said all the three youths -- Kuldeep, Mohit and Deepak -- have been arrested. The girls are given bravery awards and a handsome cash award for their act. The question arises and is worth pondering upon that why this beastly act occurred in first place.

Violence against women is present in every country, cutting across the boundaries of culture, class, education, income, ethnicity and age. Even though it is now forbidden in most parts of the world, the reality is that violations against women’s rights are often sanctioned under the garb of cultural practices and norms or through misinterpretation of religious tenets. Moreover, when the violation takes place within the home, as is very often the case, the abuse is effectively condoned by the tacit silence and the passivity displayed by the state and the law-enforcing machinery.

There is a greater picture to be seen. As a nation and its citizen I can safely say, we all are developing and almost doing well. Unfortunately, we lack a general social concern, and to worsen the issue, it’s same with every strata of society our nation houses. We talk heavy, post heavy on social media front for felonies against the females in our society, but when it’s time for action, we act completely callous and run to our cocoons when action is needed. We forget that Action speaks louder than words. The same happened not long back in Delhi around the same time in year, we all know it as Delhi Rape case, there were meetings, and whole lot of social media stuff regarding that, it seemed that this time we shall be more prudent and act like HUMANS and not like mere animals who decide their actions on carnal pleasure and not on moral values. But all we witnessed last week that all learning went away with passage of time.

I am feeling shameful that we as humans and citizens of such a great nation continue to fail shamelessly and there is no catharsis to our disease. On the other hand I am full with pride and hope for the action of the two sisters, which took a stand towards the attack towards they faced, this was a show of strength and character on the behalf of the girls, I am not amazed by this, cause All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

What we see is that women may hold various roles and positions both on personal and professional front, but the thought that they are lesser in some way or are afraid to act when needed seems and is archaic, Women are afraid of mice and murder, and of very little in between..