Women harassed, molested in Bengaluru on New Year's eve; govt, police promise action

Bengaluru: Women were harassed and even molested on the streets of the city on New Year's eve, as per media reports.

Reports said that riotous crowd in the central Bengaluru areas of MG Road, Brigade Road and Church Street shouted lewd remarks at the women, who rushed to policemen on duty for help.

"By midnight, the shouts of happy new year turned to help me,“ K Anantha Subramanyam, a photographer for Bangalore Mirror, was quoted as saying by News18. 

He was witness to the scenes that unfolded.

"We were a group of three boys and six girls. We were waiting for our cab, but so many rowdies were passing lewd remarks that we sought out policemen and stood near uniformed cops till our cab came. We were clearly outnumbered so didn't want to take any chances by questioning the drunk men. Drunk men passing by in cars would accost and shout at girls walking on the road. If they too were walking by, they would try to come and wish a happy new year, wanting to touch the girls and take selfies. It was disgusting, " a city resident who was on Church Street, Tejasvi Mahadev, was quoted by the media house as saying.

He added that there were no senior police officials in the spot and others on deployment were in certain pockets and not spread across the region.

Also, constables reportedly watched helplessly as they realised that they were outnumbered.

"People got out of the clubs around 1 or 1:30 am and it was chaotic, lot of crowd was on the streets. I felt it was unsafe as drunk men were all around us. I had male friends who had accompanied me but the drunk men outnumbered them. We went in search for cops so that we feel safe. Even in front of cops those drunk men kept eve teasing women and trying to touch them, nothing was done as police stood silent spectators," a girl who was at church street told News18.

Also Read - What drunk, unruly men did with girls during New Year's celebrations in front of 1500 policemen

Reacting to the matter, Karnataka DGP Om Prakash said, "Since such reports have come, will identify culprits and take action," as per ANI.

On the other hand, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said, "It's unfortunate, had installed more than 25 CCTVs, will examine. Such incidents do happen on New Year day and on Christmas. We take a lot of precautions."

(With Agency inputs)