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It has not even been a week that the Bengaluru mass molestation incident put the entire nation to shame and we have another distressing news concerning women safety coming from Delhi. Radhika Menon, a Delhi University professor was publicly assaulted at Vij Auto Centre Petrol Pump in Delhi’s Mayur Vihar.
This video uploaded by ABP News show the CCTV footage of Radhika being assaulted in broad daylight. The assaulter first tried to snatch her bag and then abused and hit her when she protested. What’s even more heartbreaking to see is that there were a lot of bystanders who did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to save the woman.Â
After the horrific incident took place, Radhika took to Facebook to post a detailed account of her ordeal. Her post also shows that even after being the victim, she was the one who had to face more hardships.
No safe space for women . All spaces are open for her assault, as thugs roam our streets.
Friends, thank you for the concern. Your show of solidarity is much needed.I am bruised, scratched and carrying the pain of blunt injury. But more than the physical pain, am shocked and stunned at the ease with which a woman can be threatened with death, slapped about, abused and assaulted at a public place, while people watch around a spectacle of a woman being attacked and humiliated.
I was going to college in the morning to take my classes, when I stopped at Vij Auto Centre(Bharat Petroleum), opposite SFS flats in Mayur Vihar Phase III Delhi, for refuelling my car. As I was boarding the car a young man in an orange hoodie came from the wrong side towards the petrol bay, and dragged my bag and me along. As I pulled him and my bag back, he also fell and began abusing and threatening me. After that it was a blur of slapping, punches, wherein my spectacles were broken and flung away. I turned to the petrol agents and bystanders to note his vehicle number. They simply looked away, even as the emboldened man came closer, punched me again and sped away.
A few bystanders came to enquire and scolded the petrol pump agents and guards for not reacting. They claimed the CCTV would capture the footage. The police arrived after my call, and then it was informed by them that not all cameras worked, that there was no hard disk. One footage finally was taken down from a camera that conveniently did not capture the face of the man who attacked me. But which displayed how I was beaten up.
Spent the whole morning, afternoon and early evening trying to get the footage, medical done and applying for an FIR to be filed. From whatever they saw of the footage the police think it was not bag snatching incident, but a deliberate act of rash driving towards me.
So to cut a long story short, it appears,
1. Women are not safe in a public place even in the morning.
2. You don’t really have to be a very young woman wearing fashionable clothes. You just have to be a woman for you to be abused and attacked. Boring teachers are not safe either.
3. Its not only public transport that is unsafe, even a private vehicle cannot assure safety.
4. A closed public space such as a petrol bay can become a punching ground against a woman.
5. People working at public places still think it is okay for a woman to be beaten up and leave it for CCTVs to do the job.
6. Well, CCTVs just don’t do enough and all this business of digital and technology shows only what has to be shown and doesn’t intimidate goons and thugs.
7. If someone like me who has so many friends, and who can articulate fearlessly, can be beaten up in broad daylight with such ease, without much hope of getting my assaulter booked, imagine the plight of women who are less well connected and less resourced.
Even after seeing so many incidents of women being targeted in public places, we as a society are doing nothing to ensure their safety. This is one of thousands of such cases that happen every day in our country and most end worse than this. If this is not the right time to stand up against these molesters and attackers, I don’t know when will it be.
You can read Radhika’s original post here.
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