The man, clearly seen in the video clip, is yet to be arrested.
Highlights
- The incident took place in a bus in south Delhi's Vasant Vihar
- Girl had to wait for over seven hours at police station to file complaint
- She said she raised alarm, shouted at him, but no one said a word
Sexual harassment that thousands of women face in public places has been captured in its most graphic and disgusting form by a Delhi University student who filmed a man masturbating right next to her on a crowded bus. Adding layers to the woman's disturbing experience, the police allegedly made her wait for six to seven hours to record her complaint.
In the video, which the student has posted on social media, a middle-aged man is seen exposing and fondling himself, a bag shielding his depravity from all but the young woman sitting next to him. The woman has alleged that he also tried to touch her in the incident that took place on February 7.
"I felt the man next to me do something and touch my waist with his elbow. It felt a bit weird so I decided to record on my phone. He was masturbating," the student told NDTV today.
Shockingly, the man was unfazed even when he was shouted at, perhaps emboldened by the lack of response from other passengers. "I raised an alarm and shouted at him too. No one in the bus said a word. He retorted saying I should get out if I have a problem," she said.
The outrage took place when the bus was in the Vasant Vihar area in south Delhi.
The woman went to the police station three days later to file a complaint for sexual harassment and public obscenity. There, she says, she was forced to wait for nearly seven hours to file an FIR. "They asked me why I didn't come earlier. On the bus I felt disgusted and traumatised and then again at the police station. Why is it this tough for girls to come out and complain?"
The man, clearly seen in the video clip, is yet to be arrested. Despite an assurance by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a few years ago, there were no marshals in the bus and no CCTV either.
The incident has reinforced questions surrounding the safety of women, especially in Delhi, which was in the world media glare when a 23-year-old died in 2012 after being gang-raped and tortured on a moving bus.
Sexual harassment on public transport or in public places, in the form of touching, flashing and masturbation, is not uncommon in the capital.