On 16 September 2016, a minor scuffle between two groups in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district erupted into a communal clash. The scuffle had an eve-teasing incident at its core.
While the jury debated whether it was a Hindu or Muslim girl who was harassed, we, at The Quint, decided to investigate the safety of women in the streets of Bijnor. We wanted to understand how rampant is the harassment, and how safe women feel while commuting to their schools or colleges.
The full video releases today evening. Watch the teaser below:
Bijnor, a district in Uttar Pradesh, is just 150 km from India’s capital Delhi.
Girls told us that they regularly get touched inappropriately, and molested while commuting to their school or college.
In their defence, the boys claim that they’re not solely responsible for the incidents, and a girl’s smile may be taken as a "yes".
Clearly, with such incidents happening frequently, girls have lost their faith in the police, and accuse them of inaction.
And then there was the notion of a woman’s dignity being directly related to her family’s 'honour'.
Though the concern for girls’ safety is genuine, it has resulted in another hurdle for them: their education is being compromised.
Catch the full investigation on The Quint. Coming soon.