'Show what's under your skirt?': Scooter-riding model harassed in Indore
What's the story
Amid increasing reports of sexual harassment, a model from Indore narrated how she was harassed while riding a scooter, India Today reported. Two men tried pulling her skirt, asking, "Dikhao iske neeche kya hai?" ("Show what's under this?") But her ordeal didn't end there. The only person who came to help blamed her instead, saying she was harassed as she was wearing a skirt.
Incident
Here's what happened on one of Indore's busiest roads
According to the model, two men came near her when she was riding an Activa. She tried to resist, but lost control and fell down. It was "one of the busiest roads of Indore, and nobody tried to stop them." They fled. It got worse. "An uncle who came to help me after my fall said, 'It's because you are wearing a skirt!'"
Make noise
'Girls keeping quiet about harassment is empowering such men'
She had gone numb and couldn't react immediately, she recalled. "My friends took me to a café and I tried my best to let it go." "So many girls go through this. Most of them decide not to talk about it. It's embarrassing, yes. But not talking about it is empowering those guys who think they can do anything and get away with it."
Editor's take
People like this "uncle" should visit this Bengaluru museum
There's an Indian artist, Jasmeen Patheja, who has opened a 'museum' of clothes that sexual-assault victims were wearing at the time of being molested. In what may surprise this "uncle," the place has, apart from swimsuits and short-dresses, jumpsuits, kurtas, trousers, full-length gowns, and school-uniforms too. Sexual harassment doesn't depend on clothes, time or location. The only ones to blame are the harassers.