This will be a long-term campaign with groups of women targetting a different public hot-spot every week and raising awareness on women’s rights to safe public space in Delhi.
We will interact with people, distribute parchas and raise slogans.
Come and join. Contribute ideas. Take action. Reclaim your space …..
In solidarity,
Leena

I got into a car that had a high number of women in it, but it was was not the ladies compartment. First, a middle-aged man took advantage of overcrowding to try and touch me with his knees at every possible occasion, leading me to change the position of my legs this way and that. Then two boys sat on the seat next me- together, in order that one of them could squish up against me and rub his leg against mine. I was extremely uncomfortable and thoroughly disgusted, but did not know how to react. I felt too embarrassed to get up and leave or to confront them. No one else said anything, although at this time the compartment was no longer crowded. A little girl seated opposite me laughed into her handkerchief, which compounded my humiliation.

Finally, one of the boys got up, allowing me to sit properly, without someone pressing up against me. Soon afterwards I got off, feeling both relieved and very, very angry.

After this I made sure to always travel in the ladies compartment, but I feel that I should have the right to travel in any metro car without fear.

When I was about to sit, he shifted again a bit. So that when I sat, I partially sat on his knee. This he made even more humiliating by smirking. When I finally managed to sit, I had to squeeze myself in. My eyes hurt due to sleep deprivation and I had kept my bag on my lap so that I could lean over onto it and close my eyes for sometime. This man had to disturb me further so that it became an ordeal for me. He pushed himself towards me so that I was squeezed further. He then went back to his own mobile phone game. On the next station, a girl, dressed in Jeans and a top came into the metro. She was also minding her own business, listening to music. This man looked at her, actually gave her the top to bottom stripping look. I stared at him while he was doing this. Unabashedly he looked at me, met my eyes, stared at me and then went back to his mobile phone game. I felt sick sitting next to him.

Then providence interfered. At the very next station, an old man came into the metro. He asked Mr. Pervert and his friend to stand up from the reserved seats. When they had done that he sat down next to me but gave enough space so that I could ‘unsqueeze’ myself and sit comfortably. This man stood near the door of the metro where all he could see was men around him. Good for you Mr. Pervert.

A serious implication to this seemingly innocent problem is the lasting impact that it leaves on the mind of the person who has been assaulted which often results in the elimination of that persons trust in social interactions. When we go to a mall to do our last minute shopping we trust that we aren’t being followed. When we see people gambling in secluded bus stops we trust that we wont get haggled into joining them. The impact is more traumatizing than imaginable. The end result is isolation, fear and in extreme cases… suicide.

The little secret that attackers know and use to their advantage is that they intimidate bystanders into inaction by loudness and dramatization. Street harassment provides the harasser the opportunity to flip the social structure. The disorganized and rowdy rule the civilized. The riffraff rule the roost. The uses his actions to control not only the victim but the onlookers as well. Anarchy.
What is known as the bystander effect is that the bystander tries to rationalize his inaction. They are faced with a choice and they justify their actions by excuses such as “Its not my problem”, “Im getting late for work” or “ Oh come-on She doesn’t look hurt.” While it is accepted that laws can only do so much. What might help is a citizen’s realization that we have a stake in one another, that what keeps us united is far greater than what tears us apart and if only more people realized this we may not be able to protect every woman, minor or tourist but we can create profound changes in our society.

To me an ideal handling of the grim situation we are faced with is the preservation of the hopes of the people. The hope of a young college student who believes that she shares the right to roam the streets of Delhi without fear, the hope of the wife of the defence personnel who is convinced that she doesn’t need her husband around to protect her, the hope of a rural athlete who travels to delhi in search of better opportunities and better facilities and believes she has the right to reach her stars. The hope of a plump, bespectacled kid with a funny name who stands knowing that he shares a protected and unchallenged place in New Delhi.