KASARGOD: A college student chased down and caught a man who allegedly sexually harassed her on a bus in Kanhangad. The man has been remanded in custody.
Arathi Panicker (21) of Karivellur village in Kannur district is winning accolades after she shared her experience on Facebook.
Actor Navya Nair connected Arathi's bravery to her new movie Oruthee, where the protagonist, a boat conductor, fights back against injustice. Actor Saiju Kurup also shared the college student's ordeal on social media.
But Arathi, who completed her BSc from Nehru Arts and Science and College in Kanhangad, said every woman is on her own when harassed or sexually assaulted and she would have to take up the responsibility to protect her body. "No one will come to our rescue," she said sharing her own experience in a video on Facebook.
The incident she narrated happened a few days ago when the private buses were on strike and she took a government-run KSRTC bus to go to Kanhangad from Karivellur, a 40-minute journey.
As there was no vacant seat, Arathi had to stand on the bus. "The man, who is older than my father, started leaning on me and I immediately realised what he is trying to do. So I told him he was making me uncomfortable and asked him to back off," she said.
Arathi said there was enough space for him to stand back but he refused to do so. He started harassing her again. "I felt violated. My (blood) pressure started rising and I felt physically and mentally harassed," she said.
That's when Arathi shouted at him and decided to call the Pink Police. But then the conductor intervened and asked him to get off the bus when it reached Kanhangad. "Then the conductor told me to ignore the incident. I said I am not leaving it because this was not the first time I am facing it," she said.
When the man got off the bus, Arathi too got down, turned on her video camera, and chased him.
When he entered a lottery shop, Arathi caught up with him and raised a hue and cry. "I told him if he runs I will smack him," she said.
By then a crowd had gathered and they blocked him and Arathi called the Pink Police (1515). They put her through the inspector of Hosdurg station.
From the crowd, a man asked Arathi not to press charges against the alleged abused. "When I asked him if a similar incident happened to a woman of his family will his response be the same, he slowly withdrew from the crowd," she said.
Soon the police arrived and took him into custody. Arathi went to the police station and filed her complaint and he was arrested and later remanded in custody.
The police identified the accused as Rajeev of Maniyat in Kasaragod's Pilicode panchayat.
Two days before this incident, Arathi said she was harassed by another person on a private bus in Nileshwar. "When I raised an alarm, the other passengers just stared at me. Even the conductor did not come to my rescue. Only one woman told me to approach a police officer who was standing outside," she said.
By then the harasser got out and escaped.
Both the times, it happened during day time. "How can women travel alone at night if this is the situation during the day with so many passengers on the bus," she asked. "That's why I want women to stand up."