Aquib Ul Ahad Wani
The women commuters in Kashmir, especially college, school going girls, continue to face sexual harassment in passenger vehicles as newspaper reports indicate. The overcrowded buses are becoming heaven and hub for predators to harass the girls by touching them inappropriately, and girls, who find it a taboo to talk to their family members or register cases in police stations against the predators, are silently becoming victims of harassment every day. It is becoming increasingly difficult for women particularly school, college going girls to travel in passenger vehicles as the fear of someone trying to do indecent act always remains there. Women face it almost every day, but nobody dares to speak. The overcrowded buses are becoming a safe heaven for predators to harass women.
Few days ago one of my face book page fans sent me this post in order to upload it on my timeline. I salute this sister for his bravery and I hope other sisters will take a lesson from her and will always raise their voices whenever they will feel harassed by anyone. “I wanted to share this story with every one of you. Today, I was waiting for a sumo at a stop where I usually board a sumo. After a few minutes, a sumo stopped and I get into it. I got the middle seat which was already occupied by two boys (who were in school uniform). After travelling for sometime the driver reached next stop and stopped and more people boarded the vehicle. A man(in mid 30’s) opened the door of the middle seat but I refused him getting inside as there was no space for the 4th person (as I am a little bulky), but the driver argued and said “MANZAS HASA CHI 4 KHASAN, TELI DI 2 NAFRAN HINZ KIRAI” and the other passengers too said “YI HASA CHU AASAN KARUN ADJUST”. I decided to get off but I thought I will be late for the classes (and it was also the peak time for schools/colleges, so I won’t get a vehicle easily),so I adjusted. I let the man inside and I got them to the window side. After some time I noticed the man started touching me (with his elbow) and was moving his arm to touch me. I cannot get in detail what was he trying to do and after few attempts I told him to move his arm and he replied “hay madam yi nasa chi private gaid yeti kus jai chi” and after sometime he moved even closer to me now his thighs were as close to mine as bone and flesh and every time I protested he complained about the little space. What was shocking was the reaction of the people in that sumo.
For everyone it was normal but I could feel the way the man was moving and getting closer was very inappropriate. Is it okay? If I am getting harassed (sexually) on a daily basis, is it okay and if I am raising my voice, I am told “ADJUST KARLO”,”YI CHENI PRIVATE GAID” and so on. I don’t say all men are same. No…But why should someone invade my personal space. If there is place for just 3 why will I let someone sit in my lap? Unfortunately, the victim has not got the number of the vehicle but if anyone among you (the sisters reading this) come across the same don’t forget to note down the number of the vehicle and if you can manage to get a photograph of the person who harasses you and send it to TPWC. We assure you confidentiality and assure the arrest of the person very soon. Stand up against this menace.
(The author is law student at Kashmir Law College . Views are his own)
