Mangaluru: Days after a woman’s social media post about being sexually harassed by a man in a public bus went viral, the Mangaluru City Police successfully arrested the accused in the case on January 20.
It can be recalled that a few days ago, a 21-year-old woman took to Instagram and posted a photo of her harasser after he touched her inappropriately while in a public bus.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Mangaluru Commissioner of Police N Shashi Kumar said that the incident occurred around on January 14 at around 4 PM when the woman was travelling in the bus to Pumpwell. He added that even though the girl raised her voice, no one came to her aid, after which she posted the man’s picture on Instagram.
According to her post, which soon went viral, the man was sitting next to her and kept harassing her despite her repeated warnings and scoldings. He even posed when she told him he was going to take his picture.
Identifying the harasser as 41-year-old Hussain, a daily wage labourer from Kasargod, Commissioner Kumar informed that he boarded the bus at the KS Hegde Hospital bus stop in Deralakatte and sat next to the victim. He began touching the woman with one hand while pretending to be on call with someone on his cellphone in the other hand.
The woman moved away as she was uncomfortable, but Hussain kept up his attempts to touch her. When she had had enough, the young woman scolded him after which he apologised. He even got up and went away. However, after three stops, he once again sat next to her and continued the harassment. The raged woman told him to leave her alone and sit somewhere else, but this time he refused to move, Kumar added.
Impressed with the young woman’s efforts to take her harasser to task, the police lauded and felicitated her.
Shashi Kumar also lauded the efforts of the team that nabbed the harasser and promised them a reward of Rs 10,000.
Requesting more women who are victims of sexual harassment to come forward and file a complaint, Kumar appreciated the efforts of Dr Vidya D’Souza, a professor at St Aloysius College and active member of Moms of Mangaluru, for helping the victim file her police complaint.
Meanwhile, Hussain will be presented before a magistrate for further action.
