A mob of at least 30 men allegedly assaulted and tried to molest a 22-year-old engineering graduate, even as passersby witnessed the incident that took place in broad daylight as mute spectators in Bengaluru.
The girl alleged that an elderly man hit her on the head with a helmet and the mob tried to touch her inappropriately. The harassment did not end there, as she had to face trouble in getting her complaint registered at Kumaraswamy Layout police station. The police allegedly did not take any action for at least an hour and made her narrate the incident over and over again.
The incident took place on 12 August, but the victim shared her horrific experience on Facebook in the morning of 15 August as India celebrated its 69th Independence Day. She also talked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" initiative in the post as she shared her plight.
"On 12 august 2015, I became a victim of road accident, public assault, attempt to molest and attempt to murder that too outside my own college campus where i have been for 4 long years," the girl, who is from Ranchi in Jharkhand and is a BE graduate from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, wrote.
"A 45 to 50 years aged man was about to hit my vehicle with his two wheeler 'KA03TL203' when i moved to the left and avoided the accident, but lost balance and fell down," she wrote, and added that when she got up to leave, the man started abusing her. "... and when I tried to drive away he pulled my scooty from behind but somehow i escaped."
"Later he shouted in Kannada to a tall ... man to stop me and this tall man pushed headlights of my vehicle which made me fall again and my specs, watch and helmet were thrown away and again i got injured... I again got up but before i could realize anything the man who was abusing me before came and banged my head with a helmet," she added.
She added that at least 25 to 30 men, including auto drivers and shopkeepers joined the owner of the two-wheeler and "surrounded me and snatched my scooty keys, locked it and started touching me with wrong intentions".
When she pleaded with the men to let her go, the men made fun of her, the girl wrote in the post. "Now they told me that you are a North Indian and you cant do anything because no police authority is going to help you here in South India! They told me ' let me see how you escape from here'!"
She further claimed that even as she was being assaulted by the men, no one came to her rescue. The mob also allegedly assaulted her friend, who had come to rescue her. She had called him from a shopkeeper's phone.
"I asked people around to give me their phone to make a call to police but nobody wanted to get involved. I walked a little further and requested a Mehendi wala who agreed to make a call on my friends number who stayed nearby," she wrote.
"When my friend came and just for asking the key back they all hit him Brutally, banged his head to a tree and punched his eyes face ears and stomach," she wrote, and said that the mob punched her nose and kicked her on the back.
When the duo approached the police, they asked her to narrate the incident again and again and did not take any action for at least an hour.
"... the police didn't come with us to the scene for another one hour and made us wait asking the same incident again and again.We were not provided casualty medical service for three hours until we screamed and warned the police," she wrote.
