BENGALURU: The Chamarajpet police arrested a man for allegedly making an obscene sign at a woman while driving near Gopalan Mall on Wednesday around 4 pm. The victim, Akshatha Ravikumar, a national media panelist for the Indian Youth Congress, shared a video of the incident on X, which later went viral.
The accused has been identified as Harsha HB (43), a resident of Vijayanagar. Sources said that Akshatha was driving when she passed Harsha’s car, leading to a brief exchange of words. Harsha then allegedly made an obscene hand gesture before driving away. He was accompanied by his family at the time.
After the video went viral on social media, the police reached out to Akshatha.
Based on her complaint, Harsha was booked under Section 79 (words, gestures, or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the BNS. The police traced his vehicle registration and arrested him after analysing the video footage.
Akshatha posted on X, stating: “Women drivers in Bengaluru face a lot of issues. After abusing, he breaks traffic rules, takes a U-turn, and jumped a red signal. This happened at 4 pm on the Mysore-Bangalore Road, near Gopalan Mall, on 26/02/2025. So are we going to just listen to these and neglect??”