A group of protesters — consisting primarily of men but also including women — conducted a protest in Bengaluru on Tuesday, January 10, against the city being called the "Rape City" and men being branded rapists. The protest come in the backdrop of the alleged incidents of mass molestation on New Year's Eve in Bengaluru, and some other incidents of alleged molestation and sexual assault of women.
The protest on Tuesday was organised by the Karnataka Purushara Rakshana Samiti, and supported by a few other rights organisations. While men were the primary protesters here, some women also took part in the protest that took place on Race Course Road.
Speaking to International Business Times, India, activist Kumar Jahgirdar said: "We are pained by Bengaluru being branded a rape city since the New Year's Eve mass molestation allegations. This is Garden City, not Rape City. Not all men here are rapists or molesters." The last part of his statement was primarily what this protest — which saw about 50-odd participants — was all about.
He went on to add: "Not a shred of evidence has been found of mass molestation on New Year's Eve. Then there's the case of molestation reported from Kammanahalli, which turned out to be false: The accused and his sister-in-law had planned it so they could get married. Even there we have seen discrimination against men. The man who was accused of molestation and later of hatching this conspiracy has been arrested, but the woman, who was his co-conspirator, has not been held."
He also said: "Despite that men are being branded rapists in Bengaluru. One odd case does not mean the whole of Bengaluru is unsafe for women. So, stop defaming or degrading the city as a whole. The Rape City tag has reached foreign shores, where we are being maligned for things that did not happen."
