Breaking The Silence Against Molestation !

From few days I was observing that, my best friend seemed to be distressed and disturbed. The girl who was so lively and chirpy, now had a gloomy face. I asked her several times to share her problem but she was reluctant. But finally one day, she broke out in front of me and sobbingly narrated her story.

Since many days, one of our college lecturer was molesting her by passing unsavoury and innuendos remarks. Firstly she tried to ignore him, but he showed no signs of giving up, instead he deliberately tried to physically touch her private parts. He even threatened her that if she would not satisfy his sexual hunger then he would fail her in the annual examination. On hearing this, she was very frightened and tense. She knew that if she would share this incident with anyone then nobody would believe as he had a dignified image in front of the students and staff.

Saying this, suddenly she hugged me tightly and said that “Himadri..I trust you..as you are my best friend, I know..you would only believe me and bring me out of this gruesome situation..!”

For few minutes even I was speechless but then I consoled her. I motivated her not be a silent victim and advised her to take vocal stand against him as these harassers do not stop of their own accord, ignoring such conduct may be perceived as complicity, condoning and encouragement of the act. I held her hand and assured that I would always be there for her and encouraged her to raise voice against the harasser. After listening to my advice, she thanked me and promised that she would surely handle this situation courageously and tactfully.

The very next day my friend approached our lecturer. She daringly threatened him to stop his sexist remarks towards her, otherwise she would complain to the Faculty Coordinator about his delinquency and disrespect against females. If he still disagreed then she would file a criminal complaint of sexual harassment against him and would also report it to the local non-government organization working for Women Rights. Hearing this outrageous warning, that lecturer shivered in fright, he immediately apologized and promised my friend that he would never commit this mistake again and would always respect women.

Remember, whoever you are and whatever you do, you can definitely help to eradicate female molestation.