CHENNAI: The #metoo campaign and the incidents of women facing sexual harassment in high-profile places have set off discussions in the social media. But only when it turns out to be a rape or a grievous sexual abuse, the issue “deserves” to get attention. Unnoticed are the everyday issues women face in the city’s streets, even as Chennai seems to enjoy the tag of “relatively” safer place for women among the country’s metropolises.
It is pervasive, say city women who list the residential streets to supermarkets, buses and trains as the places where they are subjected to either inappropriate touches or drooling gazes. It is the fear of being judged or blamed for “provoking the men” that silences them and prevents them from using the public places.
“Do we talk about the constant staring or when we get groped by men in buses? Or when we hear lewd comments or when men wait near train restrooms and gaze as you carry a sanitary napkin? They don’t stop even if you yell at them,” says Meera, a 32-year-old. Meera says she has faced innumerable instances of harassment when travelling in buses and trains.
In some cases, even the persons who are responsible for stopping the perpetrators of crimes don’t take complaints from women seriously. Women say the bus conductors don’t bother to question the men, but just advise the women to change their seat. Praveena, a law student, had a first-hand experience when she realised that a man was filming her while she was traveeling in the night in a bus.
“I informed the conductor. He did not tell the man anything, but asked me to change the seat or board another bus. I had no option other than staying awake the entire night to protect myself,” she says, adding that the problem is lack of the right perspective. “The conductors scold us for travelling at night hours and advise us to travel along with parents,” she says.
With the omnipresence of smartphones, the latest issue faced by women is being filmed secretly. Even this reporter, when walking out of a supermarket, suddenly noticed a cellphone camera flashing at her. It was the security guard who had clicked photos and while he initially denied shooting photos, the issue was raised with the store manager, who found the phone to have photos of this reporter. The security guard ran from the spot and could not be traced again.
Women who face such incidents continue to live in fear of being watched whenever they step out in a public place. “One in three women faces some sort of harassment and has felt uncomfortable or has feared walking on the streets or travelling in public transport. Even hanging out with their friends or parents sometimes can evoke fear,” says T R Parvatha Varthini, founder of Littles Trust, a non-profit organisation for children, Madurai.
“When I was 17-year-old and was on my way to tuition, a middle-aged woman offered to accompany me to the tuition class,” said Maya. “At first, I did not realise why she did so. But as I was walking towards the class, I found two guys following me. She had spotted that. This made me more cautious everytime I stepped out.
Though the boys did not harm me, the very thought of being watched or stalked continues to be there like a creepy shadow,” she adds. “Unless the attitude of looking at a woman as commodity changes, these things will continue. Even if they don’t treat us like a family member, they must at least treat us like a human being,” says Sneha, a working woman who says she takes only cabs after facing constant groping in buses. (Few names changed)
The IT Act 2000 is invoked in the case of a cybercrime
Cyber-stalking: It means an expressed or implied physical threat that creates fear through the use of computer technology such as internet, e-mail, phones, text messages, webcam, websites or videos
Dissemination of Obscene Material: It includes indecent exposure/pornography (basically child pornography), hosting of website containing these prohibited materials. These obscene matters may cause harm to the mind of the adolescent and tend to deprave or corrupt their mind Defamation: It is an act of imputing any person with an intent to lower the dignity of the person by hacking his/her mail account and sending some mails with vulgar language to unknown persons’ mail account
Risky to interfere without complaint, say conductors
When Express contacted MTC officials and staff to know their role in such cases, they said that as per the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Act, a commuter with rogue behavior or who causes nuisance to fellow passengers can be ‘de-boarded’ from the bus by conductors, if he or she travels without tickets. If the persons carry valid tickets, they should be handed over to the nearby police station or to a policeman at check-post or signals.
During bus travel, while women remain unaware that they were being filmed, conductors whose duty is to monitor the passengers remain silent. They say they cannot interfere in passengers’ issues on their own. “It’s quite risky to get involved in such issues pro-actively, without any objection from other passenger (victim). In the event of any complaint about the person who films women, the victim’s statement is necessary; otherwise we will be suspended ,” explained another MTC conductor.
He added that the conductors who have volunteered in such face threats from the accused on several occasions. “A conductor’s role is to regulate the passengers and their movements; they cannot play the role of police in buses,” added an office-bearer of a transport union
Victims urged to seek police help
However, senior police officers say most women do not come forward to file complaint especially against unknown person who harass them. “Most of the complaints are against known persons who keep blackmailing them or misusing photos and videos. In other cases, the women themselves deal with the issues and become lenient or even if they take them to the police station, they urge the policemen to threaten and let the suspect go and very rarely agree to file complaints.”
What laws can help you if someone films you in public