Mangaluru: Many times, incidents of harassment against women on buses get unreported due to fear of being victimized or fewer facts to prove the case. When a similar incident took place on a female student traveling in Private Bus moving from Deralakatte to Mangaluru city on January 14, the National Students’ Union of India filed a complaint to the Commissioner of Police in Mangaluru city. In the complaint, it is mentioned that the anonymous man molested and harassed the female traveller and this issue should be given utmost importance. Such incidents are common and female passengers have to go through such horrible experiences every day, the complaint mentioned.
The union said that it’s high time some immediate action is taken against these crimes that go unnoticed and unrecorded. They requested the authorities to take matters into their hands and provide justice. They further mentioned how steps like providing awareness to drivers and installing CCTV cameras can prevent further incidents like these in the future.
The Complaint was received by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Hariram Shankar, IPS on January 15. “We are extremely happy with the positive response received from the Deputy Commissioner. We have raised our voices against the recent issue of crime against women in our city and have been promised of forming a special team to arrest the culprit and take action on this incident,” said Sawad Sullia, District President of National Students Union of India.
DCP said that an FIR under section 354 against outraging the modesty of women has been booked and in the coming days the person responsible for this will be caught. “We are also waiting for certain guidelines from the state government and trying to explore new ways in which situations like this can be prevented or taken care of. All the more I believe the bus drivers and conductors should be strict and inform the police immediately when such things happen,” he said.
“The number of such cases had gone down due to the pandemic but since the lockdown has been lifted, cases like these are emerging not only from Mangalore but around Dakshina Kannada,” he added.
