[Reader-list] Account of Woman Attacked in Bangalore

[Lawrence Liang]

Hi all

In addition to the blog posted earlier, this is an account by a woman
attacked in Bangalore ( names Changed)



 Time, date of Attack: 11:15-11:30 on

My name is XXXXX. I am a Bangalorean. At least I think I am. I fell in love
with this city two years ago and shifted base from Mumbai. I was on my way
to work at Koramangala at around 11.15-11.30 in the morning when my auto
broke down at Ulsoor. As I was hailing another one a white Quallis slowed
down next to me and the occupants said something to me in Kannada. I rolled
my eyes. That was their provocation.
I do not know if that angered them but the more I dwell on that
unforgettable episode in my life, they seemed like predators, on the hunt.
Before I knew it four middle-aged men emerged out of the vehicle and began
verbally assaulting me.

First they started hurling obscenities at me in Kannada and then it became
physical. They started touching and pulling at my clothes. One of them
tugged so brutally at the shrug I was wearing that he scratched my neck.
Their goal — to show the collected crowd the top that I was wearing
underneath my shrug.
When the shrug didn’t come off with their tugging, the violence of the
tugging increased. In self defence I hit out at an offending hand that was
trying to disrobe me. The response, he slapped me hard across my ear. Then
they began trying to lift my top up while making references to ‘pink chaddi’
– the only words I could understand of their tirade.

I told them I would call the police and one of them arrogantly proffered me
his phone to make the call. The few people who dared to gather and watch
were dumbfounded and no one said a thing. Some passing cars even slowed
down, but not one stopped to help.
The whole time, the four of them kept up the tireless rant of obscenities,
calling me names and trying to humiliate me in front of the gathered crowd.
They couldn’t bear that a woman was looking them in the eye, and each time I
raised my head to look at the tormentors, they kept pushing my head down,
threatening me not to look at them in the face. While they were hitting my
head, an army vehicle drove past. They stopped and intervened. Finally the
army men helped me into a rickshaw to continue on what I thought was going
to be a regular day at work.

It looked like these guys just wanted to make a spectacle and humiliate
someone that day. And I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t
want to imagine what would have happened to me if the army men hadn’t put an
end to the humiliation. I do not want to talk to the cops as even with
hardcore evidence, the police didn’t do anything about the Mangalore episode
and those hooligans are out. I do not want to talk to the press and be
anyone’s political scapegoat. The whole situation was a nightmare and every
time I talk about it, I relive it.