‘A number of protesters and detainees, together with journalists, alleged that they’d been manhandled; police personnel, in some cases, defined that bodily power turned “mandatory” when folks refused to maneuver’
| Picture Credit score: Reuters
A string of sexual assault and harassment circumstances in India over the previous few weeks has led to a well-recognized cycle of shock: protests, marches, tv debates, social media campaigns, and calls for for accountability. Reporting on these circumstances, I’ve discovered myself occupied with the calculations girls continuously make to stay protected.
Whereas reporting on the alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old at Astha Kunj Park in south Delhi final month, I spent hours talking to college students, girls, and residents. On September 23, college students of Woman Shri Ram School for Girls and Delhi College held a women-only march to boost considerations about security. By 6.30 p.m., I used to be strolling again from the march in direction of Nehru Place metro station, barely 650 metres away. About 200 m from the place the march had ended, a person standing on the footpath regarded me straight within the eye and commenced touching himself.
I might nonetheless hear the slogans behind me — “azadi, azadi” — rising louder. Police personnel had been on the streets, “managing” the protest.
I saved strolling.
Earlier that day, the ladies I spoke to mentioned harassment on the roads was hardly uncommon. “Males usually interact in obscene sexual behaviour close to Moolchand metro station and on the highway in direction of faculty. This not solely scared me, but additionally my household. They purchased me a automotive so I can keep away from travelling via these stretches,” a pupil mentioned. Some college students keep away from going to this metro station altogether and take a 10-minute auto experience to get to a different station.
Girls journalists make related calculations. After I first needed to go for a gathering with a police officer in Delhi, I wore denims, boots, and a prime. “If you happen to go like this, they may assume you might be too modern and it is perhaps a distraction for them,” a colleague informed me. “Put on one thing Indian.” One other mentioned, “Sleeveless won’t look good.” Since then, what I put on to work has typically relied on whether or not I’ve a gathering with a police officer.
Final month, when a constructing collapsed in Satya Niketan, killing seven folks, I used to be on the web site till 11.30 p.m. I used to be repeatedly informed, “It’s best to go house. It’s late.” Later, beneath the Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus metro station, the place 150-200 college students had gathered, I weighed the significance of the story towards the chance of travelling alone at night time. The apprehension didn’t really feel misplaced: round midnight, one other man uncovered himself in entrance of me at a metro station.
Over the previous week, as protests demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner unfolded in Delhi, I confronted a well-recognized dilemma. When a state of affairs escalated, ought to I transfer in direction of the gang to doc a detention or keep again and danger lacking the second? “Madam, aap door hatt jayiye (Madam, please keep at a distance)” was a standard chorus.
A number of protesters and detainees, together with journalists, alleged that they’d been manhandled; police personnel, in some cases, defined that bodily power turned “mandatory” when folks refused to maneuver. A girl police officer informed me that demonstrators typically refused to stand up when requested to go away, forcing personnel to elevate them. On floor, the road between what’s dismissed as an inevitable a part of crowd management and what an individual experiences as bodily intimidation can grow to be troublesome to determine.
A photojournalist based mostly out of Gujarat, who had been contemplating coming to Delhi to cowl the protests after seeing their scale, discovered herself hesitating over a query that appeared painfully primary: “Is it protected to go to protests alone?”
After I determined to pursue journalism in 2020, abandoning what was thought-about a dream job for an engineering graduate, my mom apprehensive that the occupation was not protected for a lady. Six years later, when she hears me speak about crime scenes and late-night assignments, I realise how little that worry has modified. I’ve one other story to chase, one other name to make. She, then again, has just one query for me after each project: Did you get house safely?
Revealed – October 16, 2026 12:18 am IST
