Mangaluru: In India, especially in Dakshina Kannada district, crime has been steadily on the rise, against women in particular.
Crime against women is committed every three minutes. Some men might even think that women should tolerate abuse in the interest of keeping her family together.
Sexual abuse is one of the most common crimes against women. Women or girls travelling by bus in most cases are prone to abuse by some men. Market-places or cinema houses are also places where harassment or abuse takes place. It is an alarming sign that sometimes teens are also involved in such acts.
But have you heard of any elderly person committing such crime? Here is the story of a senior man in his 70’s who was involved in such acts.
Our correspondent, while passing by the vegetable markert around 12-15 pm on August 31, noticed some people having gathered in front of a juice shop. While checking what was going on, she saw a woman shouting at an elderly man for abusing her.
Speaking to mangalorean.com, Radha (name changed), said, “I came to the market to buy basic commodities along with my husband. While I was walking near the juice centre to go to the market, a elderly man claiming to be a ex-Serviceman harassed me by touching my body. I thought that he might have touched me accidentally, but I was wrong, he returned again and did the same thing. Since he did it intentionally, I got angry and slapped him.’
When she questioned him, the man reportedly said, “What is the big deal? I touched you but you too slapped me.” When the old man was arguing with the woman, a large crowd had already gathered. Sensing that danger was in store for him, the old man left the place in a hurry and hid inside a shop.
Our correspondent informed the police. They arrived, brought him out of the hiding place and arrested him. Later it was learnt that he had harassed a few other women too while passing by.
There are a number of such cases happening everyday. The victims perhaps choose to ignore such instances to avoid adverse publicity, or pursuing time-consuming police cases and the like.
It is also possible that when senior men indulge in such things, the women might excuse them being under the impression that they might have done it accidentally. This is likely to give them encouragement.
One has heard of men getting naughty after forty. But the episode reported here was a limit.
DONT YOU HAVE ANY OTHER BETTER NEWS THAN THIS ?
Parabak Popikala.
“Since he did it intentionally, I got angry and slapped him” – report
I’m not justifying this old man in those pictures. He clearly seems to have some ‘issues’. However, it is amazing to see how easily we accept and endorse slapping and other physical assault as a natural response!! This is the same mindset that results in group attacks on individuals. This goes back to my points made in earlier posts – We need to discourage ‘public beatings’ and encourage due process using police and judiciary. Unfortunately, we are doing the exact opposite – Encourage bad behavior and then get all outraged!!
Mr Ruchir, do you want the girls to be molested in public. Today this woman, tomorrow your own people may be in that place. This is a wake up call for everyone to be alert and for the molesters to be exposed.
Mr Original R Pai
When this incident happened I was present, buying grocery. The man was caught by the police and no one assaulted him. He was safe till the police vehicle arrived at the spot.
Dear Madhava,
I’m glad to hear that nobody assaulted this old man. I was referring to ‘slapping’ by the victim. Also, I am referring to countless incidents where we tend to ignore ‘public beatings’ as the recipient happens to be a criminal.
Mhaanthaareka prostate vaddunu aila.