Eve-Teasing & the problems faced by girls in their day to day life

 

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Eve-Teasing & the problems faced by girls in their day to day life

Imagine you are a woman walking down a road alone. You hear someone whistling but doesn’t pay attention to it.

After a moment, you hear the sound again, this time a little closer. This feels weird, but you continue walking.

You hear the whistle again and this time, the source is definitely closer than before. Before you can do anything, a voice says, “Hey beautiful lady” in your ear, and a man’s body brushes past you, pinching your arm as he goes along. How would you respond?

You will probably be in shock. And the man has probably left by the time you realize that something wrong has happened to you, so you cannot react.

Imagine you are walking down the same street a few days later. You hear the whistling again. You walk faster but he catches up with you and this time, he says, “Why are you in such a hurry, baby?” And this time, he pinches your waist before he disappears.

What next? You may start avoiding that road, no matter how much longer the other route is. But what if that road is unavoidable on your route and you cannot afford to take an auto or taxi instead of walking every day. What then?

You are not trained in self-defense and learning some form of it is both expensive and time-consuming, so you cannot attack the man the next time he comes close.

So, you will probably decide that it is best to ignore it. You deal with the inconvenience, telling yourself that he won’t have the courage to do more than a whistle and pinch in a public place. But can you be sure that it ends there?

Sexual harassment of a woman in a public place is referred to as ‘eve-teasing. Such harassment may be verbal, like passing lewd comments, or it may be physical, like pinching or obstructing her way, or it may be done through gestures like winking or staring.

Although it seems like a harmless and playful term, eve-teasing often has serious consequences.

Several instances that started out as eve-teasing have resulted in rape or murder or acid attacks. Several sections of the Indian Penal Code, or IPC, outlines the various forms of eve-teasing and spells out the punishment in such cases.

These range from fines to prison sentences up to seven years. Although the IPC does not use the term ‘eve teasing’ explicitly, it penalizes acts that constitute eve-teasing.

Some of these are performing obscene acts including singing obscene songs in public; assaulting a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty; and displaying objects or uttering words that intrude on a woman’s privacy.

Tamil Nadu even has a dedicated Act passed in 1998 to combat eve-teasing. Despite all this, we don’t often come across eve-teasing cases in the news.

Perhaps this is because not many women report these cases. Or it could be that eve-teasing as an issue gets sidelined in the face of other forms of gendered discrimination, like dowry harassment or domestic violence.

But eve-teasing deserves as much importance as these issues because it is the same mindset that leads to all these crimes.

Society valuing men more than women and telling men that they may do as they please with women is what makes one man beat his wife at home and another grope a stranger on the street.

Let us go back to our imagined scenario. You want to take action against the man who has been harassing you on the streets. How should you go about it?

The first resort would be to file a police complaint. The investigating officer then decides if the complainant needs to provide a statement or be spoken to further about what has occurred.

The second option is to hire a lawyer which can help the complainant navigate through the complex legal systems by helping with the right information about the crime and the legal options available.

The courts have, in the past, held men accountable for harassing women in public places. In Kerala, a man who winked at a woman and forcibly held her hands was found guilty of outraging her modesty as she had no intent to reciprocate his advances.

In another case, the Supreme Court held that a man slapping a woman on her posterior amounted to outrage to her modesty as the action was capable of shocking her sense of decency.

But if the police and courts are too intimidating or expensive, one can approach an NGO, or a legal aid center in a law college, or dedicated online for women’s helplines for guidance.

These avenues offer support to women by helping them with legal information and offering counseling.

Eve teasing is not only a serious disturbance to you and me at a personal level, but also a social evil addressed by Indian law.

 

Types of eve-teasing?

·      Sexual staring

·     Making derogatory remarks about women

·     Making fun of darker-colored women 

·     Using vulgar language and making crude remarks

·     Loudly rating girls’ looks

·     Following home and blowing kisses

·     Indecent proposals

·     Pulling hands, scarves, and saris

·     Bottom pinching

·     Touching hips and breasts of women

·     Stalking

·     Indecent exposure

·     Openly masturbating in the bus

    Where does eve-teasing happen?

The sequence of occasions takes place in numerous locations relying on the mobility of victims. Victims are typically alone, but eve-teasing occasionally happens while victims are in a number of ladies and often while traveling to workplace or school or during leisure activities. Below mentioned is the list of Common places where eve-teasing occur:-

·     In streets and parks

·     Bus stands, railway stations

·     Coffee shops and internet cafés

·     In movie theaters

·     Near call centers

·     On beaches

·     At celebrations and festivals

·     Near college campuses

·     Construction sites

·     Deserted areas

·     Temples

·     Shopping malls

·     Market places

 

        What Causes of Eve-Teasing:-

 

The root cause of eve-teasing is found in our circle of relatives and social attitudes, or values. The lack of participatory, empathetic, responsible, and healthy relationships between men and women influences the venomous and violent culture of women in this regard. Moreover, the lack of proper education of the children from their families mostly helps develop such a negative mentality.

 

The general causes of eve-teasing are stated hereunder:

 

1.  The exhibit of ladies deem as goods and objects of consumption

2.  The decadence of social values and lack of ideal family and ethical education

3.  The misuse of technology

4.  The unemployment and desperation

5.  The lack of social awareness and the unsafe outcomes of electronic and movie media

6.  The on hand use of drug

7.The lack of perfect implementation of applicable legislations

8.  The lack of vital training of law enforcement personnel

9.The men are a bad mindset in the direction of ladies in society

 10. The discriminatory behavior between men and females in our society, economic and political societies.

 

How to prevent eve-teasing?

1.  Whenever possible, keep away from touring alone.

2.  Avoid very crowded buses.

3.  Avoid taking walks alone in dark alleys.

4.  Carry a whistle to call for help.

5.  Do not be given lifts from strangers.

6.  Do no longer wait on my own in bus stands or train stations.

7.  Do not share an auto rickshaw if there are no different women passengers.

8.  Pretend to call the police.

9.  Learn self-defense.

10. Scream at the perpetrator to put off his hands.

 

 

What is the Punishment for eve-teasing?

Very fairly speaking that in the Indian Penal Code, the word ‘eve-teasing’ does not exist. Eve teasing is an attitude, a mindset, a set of behaviors that is construed as an insult and an act of humiliation of the female sex.

 

However, victims of eve teasing could take recourse to certain sections of the IPC like Section 354, Section 509 & Section 294 under which accused may face Imprisonment for 2 to 3years, or fine, or both