Like many of us, have you also encountered lewd and inappropriate gestures by men in public spaces? Have you also felt disappointed and disgusted with how we can’t even walk freely in our own country?
Recently, a shameful incident of sexual harassment happened in the Pimpri Chinchwad area of Pune district in Maharashtra.
On Saturday morning, a mother boarded an autorickshaw to take her ailing son to the hospital. On the way, she became the victim of sexual harassment when she saw her co-passenger masturbating in the vehicle while staring at her.
This mother found herself in an uncomfortable position as she was being sexually harassed in front of her son.
This brave woman, rather than ignoring the incident, decided to take charge of the situation. She arrived at Yashwantao Chavan Memorial hospital and narrated her harrowing ordeal to the cops deployed on the medical facility’s premises.
Post which, the police came into action and nabbed the accused, identified as 30-year-old Soheb Qureshi. Speaking to The Times of India, a police officer said,
“After getting down from the autorickshaw, the woman immediately alerted the policemen at the police chowkey on the premises of the hospital. The suspect Soheb Qureshi was taken into custody with the help of locals.”
Similar Incidents In The Past
In recent times, there has been a sudden increase in the cases where women have been subjected to similar kinds of harassment.
A few days back, a 35-year-old man masturbated at a 40-year-old woman at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad near Delhi. As per the reports, the woman was standing in a queue at the MMG district hospital to get medicines. The accused, identified as Arshad, stood behind her in the queue and started masturbating. Some people witnessed him engaged in the deplorable act in public. Later, the accused was nabbed and handed over to the police. Based on a complaint lodged by the woman, the police charged the accused with molestation under IPC Section 354.
In another incident, a 24-year-old scooter rider allegedly flashed his private parts to a 21-year-old law student after asking her for an address in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad. After being arrested, the accused Chirag Bhati, cited his wife’s pregnancy as the reason for the act. As per the sources, police said:
“He told the cops during primary questioning that he hadn’t had sex for the past three months as his wife was pregnant, and that is why he had committed the offence.”
The Bottom Line
Even though it is the 21st century, women are still struggling to feel safe in their own country. It is heartbreaking how we are not able to keep our women and kids safe from the sex-deprived monsters.
With increasing cases of women being targeted with inappropriate gestures and lewd comments in public spaces, it shows how our society’s DNA has been degraded. It’s high time that we women refuse to ignore such indecent gestures; and raise our voices not only for ourselves but also for the future generations!