An increasing number of women in Bengaluru are reporting being accosted by random men in crowded spaces.
The circumstances are similar. A man approaches an unaccompanied woman, asks for directions to a specific place, compliments her appearance and proceeds to ask her if she would like to join him for a drink or meal.
On busy roads
Such occurrences have been reported on Church Street, Brigade Road, and
M G Road.
Akanksha (name changed), a 25-year-old media professional, was approached by a man on Church Street. “He stopped me and tried to have a conversation but I kept walking, assuming he was an influencer. But he followed me down the street and started complimenting my outfit,” she says. She felt something was amiss and she walked away as fast as she could.
In April this year, a woman was waiting for a cab near Anil Kumble Circle at 9 pm. A man, holding a travel bag, walked up to her and asked for directions to Kammanahalli or the closest bus stop. “I showed him how to get to the Shivajinagar bus stand,” she recalls.
He then made as if to leave and took a few steps, but walked back to her. He wanted to know why she was alone and if she had booked a cab. “He proceeded to ask if I could drop him at his location as his phone battery had died. He showed me a train ticket and repeatedly told me how he was lost in this new city,” she says. She walked towards the closest signal, which was manned by cops. The man followed her for a bit and then walked away in the opposite direction.
At metro stations
A 23-year-old journalist was traumatised on two separate occasions at metro stations.
The first time, she had alighted at the Indiranagar metro station when a man, visibly drunk, asked her how he could get to a popular bar in the neighbourhood. When she helped him with directions, he asked her to join him for a drink. She refused and walked towards her paying guest accommodation nearby, looking over her shoulder all along.
On the second occasion, a man approached her at M G Road metro station to ask for directions and proceeded to confess that he was interested in getting to know her because she looked like one of his ex-girlfriends. “I told him to back off and walked away. He tried to follow me but I lost him in the crowd. When I reached my platform I could see him on the opposite platform,” she recalls.
According to activist Tara Krishnaswamy, incidents of this nature are not recent. “It is a serious issue. The man walks away but the woman must deal with the trauma — that things could have taken an ugly turn.”
Cops say
Saidulu Adavath, DCP North, says, “We have not received any complaints about such incidents, but if we start noticing an increase we will put some measures in place. The Rani Chennamma Pade (fleet of women officers trained in unarmed combat) are already deployed near schools and colleges where girls and women are in larger numbers.”
Shekhar H Tekkannavar, DCP Central, advises women to immediately bring such incidents to the notice of cops or security at metro stations.