A girl was harassed in full public view in the heart of central Delhi. The harassment survivor’s friend Radhika P Singh took to Facebook to describe the ordeal her friend was put through by the Delhi Police.
Here’s her account.
His name is Nikhil and he tried to molest my friend.
She was walking near Barakhamba Road in Central Delhi’s Connaught Place, when this man came and tried to forcibly kiss her in broad daylight. This happened in a crowded place. She was not dressed inappropriately, that is what most people think when a girl is harassed.
She got hold of the man, started screaming at him and then some passers-by came and helped her to nab him. But the worst mistake was to call the cops, they came 40 minutes later and took the accused into the van.
The cops then asked my friend to write an application to the SHO of Connaught Place Police Station explaining what happened. She wrote an application but Sub Inspector Sanjiv Kumar rejected it right away. Reason - “it was not clear”. So she wrote another application. Again he said she had not explained “in detail”.
By this time she was shaking with disgust and anger. Her eyes filled up with tears. Finally I offered to write an application. I wrote very clearly -
This guy, Mr. Nikhil tried to molest me by attempting to kiss me.
The application was rejected for a third time by Sub Inspector who said -
You are wrong to think that she was molested. Trying to kiss a girl is NOT molestation.
Sanjiv Kumar then tried to scare us by saying that we will have to come to the police station and then to court tomorrow to appear before the Magistrate. He added that my friend should be calling her parents. When I asked why the parents of the accused were not being called, he said that there was no need!
We were treated like criminals and the accused was treated like the victim. We realised we live in a place where every girl has to fight for herself. We should have just beaten the pulp out of this guy and let him lie on the road, instead of taking him to the cops.
Clearly, the police is not there to protect us, it is only there to treat us like second class citizens. My friend felt humiliated and afraid. Humiliated, because everyone standing and watching the tamasha felt that we were overreacting -
He is just a guy... Let him go!
We were scared that if we continue to fight, she might end up being followed and harassed. The police has forwarded her number to the parents of the accused. The accused’s parents even called her up last night and now she fears the worst.
I cannot help but ask, why am I bringing up my daughters in this godforsaken place?
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