When Asha was pushed off a moving train by four men who attempted to molest her, 25 feet down into a dry river bed, her co-passengers remained dumb spectators. Including couple of ladies, the train had people dotting every bogie. She ran into each screaming, and what prevented any of them from helping is a revolting mystery.
July 24th. The day 19 year old Asha Rani was pushed out of a moving Yeshvantpur-Mysore Express near Maddur into the river bed of Shimsha. She had been on the way back from her workplace when the men misbehaved, made sexual advances and offered money for sex. Her objection provoked them to kick her out, literally. The victim is an orphan, lives with her grandmother in Vidyaranyapuram, Mysore and works in Hinduja Garment factory, Bangalore.
Hundreds of women in Bangalore travel by train. Many have experienced similar harassment. The Railway Police have failed to take any action despite numerous complaints. But it's ridiculous how in the presence of 10 odd men and women, a girl still cannot feel safe in public. She cannot trust the society anymore. Till the last decade people only feared getting their hands dirty in property issues or road accidents that could have criminal tags. But today, the dignity of a woman weighs lesser than the effort of having to report an incident to the police or help a hapless teen.
The accused, identified as Akbar, Imran, Rafeeq and Zuban are scrap workers from Mysore who boarded the train from Ramanagara Station. Asha even knew one of them already. They were arrested and produced before the Maddur JMFC Court which remanded them in 15 days judicial custody. And again, the co-passengers who were vegetables escape blame.
Everything from the misbehaviour to sexual advances may have been inevitable, but how could a girl be pushed off a moving train at the end of quite some drama in the presence of other passengers! The fall on the rocky river bed has left serious head, bone and spine injuries.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Women's Commission has assured Asha that the government would take responsibility of her and would provide her asylum in a government-run destitute women's home.
The tears that well up in Asha's eyes, each time she would recall her 'hellish experience' is a reflection of deliberate injustice towards women and as well as misogyny in the Indian society. She's now afraid of traveling by train. Who isn't?
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