In a case of moral policing, a girl wearing a pair of shorts was told by a middle-aged woman that anyone who wears this kind of attire should be raped. The incident happened in Kolkata.
The 25-year-old girl who is pursuing her MPhil from Jadavpur University tried to protest but ended up getting verbally abused and was even slapped twice while she asked a traffic policeman for help.
Speaking to Times of India, the girl said that she has been staying in Salt Lake in South Kolkata for the past five years ever since she was studying at the Presidency College.
"Around 1.30 pm last Thursday, I went out to buy a few staff just a few metres from my PG accommodation. Soon, I was accosted by this woman near a bank. She was wearing a silk saree. She turned towards me and said: 'Tomader moto meyeder ekkhuni rape kora uchit (girls like you should be raped)'. Initially, I was shocked. But then I protested saying she had no right and moral authority to make any comment on me. I pointed out that what she did was a criminal offence," the girl said.
After receiving more verbal abuses, the girl tried to talk to the traffic police and then was slapped by the woman. The girl said that she was stunned and did not know what to do for a few moments.
She went on to say that she told the woman that things were going too far
"By this time, others tried to step in. Realizing that she was being surrounded, the woman fled. Iwas in shock and trauma. It was for my friends that I could finally manage to reorganize myself. My house owner too played a positive role. It was on the advice of cops that I filed the FIR," the victim said, recounting her ordeal.
The girl lodged a complaint against the woman with the Lake Police and subsequently, an FIR has been filed under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code including hurt, wrongful restraint and outraging the modesty of a woman.
"It's a rare case when a woman has been named for outraging the modesty of another woman. The accused probably lives somewhere near Dhakuria. We might ask the victim to record her statement in front of a magistrate," an officer was quoted as saying.
