Amid International Women’s Day celebrations across the country, two women bikers were harassed by a man for pulling up their bike on the main road, in “front of their residence” located on the road opposite.
The incident took place on NICE Road in Bengaluru on Sunday afternoon when the women pit-stopped to quench their thirst on their way back from a Women’s Day ride.
The bikers, Dr Sharon Samuel and Priyanka Prasad were stopped on the side of the road ahead when a man, elderly looking, from a house across the road, began yelling and abusing them, asking them to leave.
In videos that surfaced on Twitter, the women can be seen stopped on the side of the road as the man yells and another from the house crosses the road and asks the women to leave. claiming that they were standing on his property.
“This is my property. You are not supposed to stand here. What are you doing here? I am an advocate,” questions the man.
As the women attempt to reason with him he says, “You cannot drink water here. Go in front and go to the toll there.”
As the women attempt tp tell him they stopped to quench their thirst, the man increases his voice and aggressively asks them to leave. “Leave. Don’t escalate. Go.”
When the women ask him to point out their mistake he states that the road they were parked on was “his property”.
“You are standing at my gate. this is my passage to the gate. I cross from here and go.”
When the women decline to move the man begins to pull out his phone and record. “This is my property. You are standing at the wrong place. You cannot block here. Move.”
As the woman ask him to stop saying that the man puts his hand on one of the rider’s bike and pulls out the key. As the biker objects and attempts to stop him, he jerks her hand away.
“Now we’ll show you,” he says before he swiftly walks back to his house across the road as vehicles approach.
The biker’s hand was allegedly twisted and swollen in the incident.
The woman then called the police helpline 112 when he refused to hand over the keys to them.
Later in the day, the women reportedly filed a complaint of harassment at the Konanakunte police station where about 100 bikers gathered to support them.
Veena Shetty, one of the riders, shared the story on her Instagram page and noted that the complaint hadn’t been filed by the police for over six hours.
“They have been here since 2 o’clock and it is 8 o’clock now. Six hours and they have not taken the complaint. They are just modifying the complaint, asking us to compromise,” she said while asking people to support them.
The man claimed that the women filed a false complaint against him, and filed a counter-complaint of illegal trespass and assault against them.
Deputy commissioner of police (South), P Krishnakant said that an FIR had been filed based on the women’s complaint and further investigations were underway, Deccan Herald reported.
Police invoked IPC sections dealing with criminal intimidation (506), voluntarily causing hurt (323), and 354 (assault or force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty).
