15th July: Majestic

Majestic!! Majestic!!
15th July 5 pm- 8 pm

It was exciting, thrilling and real.
Interviews/ opinion polls and pamphlets
Many politically correct statements.
Some of us were felt up while we intervened, it was appalling. I took a photograph of one of the perpetrators. He pushed me when I took the camera out. (That explains the blurr).
Opinion polls are a non threatening form to get everyone to participate. There were times when the boys were putting their thumb impressions just for fun. It was revealing of the denial that street sexual harassment carried.

Akhila will be sharing some of her thoughts, experiences while doing the interviews.
Likewise people building opinion polls will bring in their perspective.

q: what do you call street sexual harassment? people were asked to put their thumb impression. red- female/ blue- male 

majestic 15th July 

WE WERE AT THE BUS STATION YESTERDAY. Opinion polls were created, pamphlets distributed.the opinion polls will be put up shortly.

participating group:
Akhila, Pallavi, Romal, Hemangini,Neeluka, Viraj, Amita, Devika, Suren, Ria, Girish.

Unwanted. Section 354 IPC

Section 354, IPC - Assault or criminal force to a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty - whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine or both.

AND THERE WE GO AGAIN!

Dear Jasmeen,

I was just going through the Deccan Herald article about your campaign - Eve
Teasing. Let me express my straight forward views on this particular
subject. My language may be crude, I will have to use it to get the right
effect and it is a fact!

Most of the men tend to tease women if they are not well dressed. When I
say well dressed, I mean neat churidhars, sarees and other kind of Indian
dresses will attract less teasing from the menfolk. On the other hand, most
of the women/girls want to be seen and hence they wear skimpy dresses. Let
me start from the top. Most of the young teenage girls have undescribable
kind of hairdos, dark red lipsticks, more foundations, facials etc on the
face (really unwanted but indirectly inviting the opposite sex). You can
almost see the cleavage of all the females except some who might be wearing
a transparent blouse to show their latest fashion bras and there are some
who don't even wear bras. Even if some females are wearing a good dress,
they won't place the dupatta properly on the chest. They either put it on
one side of the shoulder or wrap it around the neck. In short, they want to
exhibit the shape of their boobs to the opposite sex.

Coming down a bit, now-a-days you can see the bare waist, colour of the
panty, pantyhose or even a part of the ass of all females on Brigades/MG
Road. Even if in some cases, they are not clearly visible, some females
will just sit down on a road side shop pretending as if to search a book or
a sandal, so that the guys at the back can see their body hugging T-shirts
lift up and watch the waist and colour of the panty/panty hose from the
back. This is the logic.

Coming down further, now-a-days, even small females from the age of 10,
want to wear tight fitting jean. That is simply because, they know that
males will be watching the pussy part and the tight fat thighs when they
look at a girl walking with tight jeans. Moreover, they want to show the
shape of their ass to the world and when they are sure that males are
watching, they make their ass to vibrate a bit more.

The above three paragraphs will give you an idea of the general tendency. I
do not have to tell you much about the facts like, girls wearing minis,
micros, shorts, body hugging T-shirts where everbody can see the shape of
the upper part of the body with a protruding boobs with a big bottom.

These are the major factors which tends the minds of men/boys to tease.

There is nothing wrong in being Western in attire. The Wester concept
should be adopted for good purposes in life.

All the best for your campaign but it will not succeed. I am sure.

For eg., look at the following link. It was in the same Deccan Herald.
They are posing for a dress with Tricolour. Look how skimpy they are. Are
they not ashamed of doing that with our national flag? Do you think men will
respect these females. The moment somebody looks at these photographs, they
will think that these females are with lose characters and nobody to control
at home. I think you got my point.


I don't this you will reply to this mail.

Anyway,

Bye,

Akash P R.


http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jul142005/metrothurs1645312005713.asp

UNWANTED. SECTION 354 IPC

The photograph has been readjusted to make the 'perpetrators' unrecognizable.Blank Noise seeks to build dialogue about street sexual harassment and is not attempting isolate any one person or incident.(year 2009)

Section 354, IPC - Assault or criminal force to a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty - whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine or both. Section 509, IPC - Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman - whoever intending to insult the modesty of any woman utters any word, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object intending that such word or sound shall be heard, or that such gesture or object shall be seen by such woman, or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or both. (Cognisable and bailable offense)

Eve teasing is a euphemism used in India for sexual harassment or molestation of women by men. Considered a growing problem throughout the subcontinent, eve teasing ranges in severity from sexually coloured remarks to outright groping.

FRIDAY 15TH JULY

Hi

To all those interested in getting involved with the intervention at Majestic, here are some thoughts.

It is not about a one day event at Majestic. We cannot insert ourselves in that space, we need to get the people of Majestic to become a part of this. This is not possible in one day, which is why we should spread it out over a period of four days to a week.

Phase 1
Friday, 15th July we will be distributing pamphlets. The pamphlets are in kannada and English. We will also be conducting opinion polls and taking interviews/ conversations.

This should create dialogue in a non threatening way and get people involved.

Phase 2
Will emerge from the result of phase one. We could broadcast interviews? / plan a performance with the people there/ do something in buses.

The first phase is clearly safe and we need to see how it goes.

All those interested, please contact me latest by this evening.
Looking forward,

Jasmeen

blanknoise@gmail.com

509. Word gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a womanWhoever intending to insult the modesty of any woman utters any word makes any sound or gesture or exhibits any object intending that such word or sound shall be heard or that such gesture or object shall be seen by such woman or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.

 

transit points around majestic bus stand 

majestic bus stand 

the site for the next intervention. majestic, bus stand area. (transit point) 

from chinmayee

It's interesting to see the alternatives and opposing points of view posted in the comment boxes of entries. The suggestions to do something more concrete than demonstrating, to stop hoping for miracles, to stop expecting that men will not grope in a year or two, to 'understand' that leching is not an offense, that a man can mentally undress a woman.

What surprises me is the complete lack of sensitivity in these comments. Because what is not being recognised is that eve teasing or street harassment or leching or groping - call it what you want - is not seen as an offence. That's the bottom line here. It's also the starting post. As young girls in school uniforms, awkward teenagers in shorts or grown women in salwar-kameezes, we are made to think that it 'happens' and you can do nothing about it.

We've all had terrible experiences. How many of us have had our breasts grabbed? How many of us have had men in crowded buses jerking off against our backs? Do we talk about it? No. Are we made to feel like it's not our fault? No. Why? Because it happens. Men, ruled by libidos, do things like this. As junk_alpha pointed out, demeaning thoughts may not be an offense under the law. But what about the scars left on a woman when it happens? The feeling that your body is dirty and unworthy, that's a playground only for lust and not tenderness? Is legality the only space for this? What about humane sensitivity?

What Jasmeen is doing with Blank Noise is trying to first get recognition that eve teasing is not okay. That just because thousands of men do it and thousands of women are victims every minute of every day, it's not bloody okay. No-one has a right to lech at my body and imagine what I look like naked. First you need to have the issue recognised and out there, in your face, before you can do anything else.

Going to the police is an option open to us. Whether or not you choose to is entirely personal. For many of us, it ceases to be a choice because of the insensitive manner in which the complaint is treated. A friend of mine was taking her morning walk when a grown man flashed himself to her. When she complained to the police, they just told her to walk elsewhere. Another was told to wear a dupatta. Another was told that men are "like that only". I was once told not to walk on Cubbon Road. Simple. Just don't walk because, again, raging libidos cannot be protected against.

The public demonstrations, banners, the pictures on the blog are not "scare tactics" or pointless. Because ultimately, unless something is taken into the public space screaming for attention, nothing can be done. The legal alternatives, educating young girls, dialogues, platforms, everything else can only begin when people open their eyes to the issue.
Instead of constantly posing a smart answer and a legal loophole to every initiative of Blank Noise, why don't people join in? It may be very interesting and intellectually stimulating to argue for and against, to analyse and discard, to banter, to offer alternatives, to point out mistakes, to threaten and criticise...very interesting, indeed.

But, on the 15th, how many of you are going to be there at Majestic with Jasmeen to take one step into the public space? Because eventually that's what counts.

THE REPORT

MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS CONFIRM THE RAPE.

MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS CONFIRM THE RAPE.

MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS CONFIRM THE RAPE.

MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS CONFIRM THE RAPE.

MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS CONFIRM THE RAPE.

What do you consider street sexual harassment?

1.looking
2.whistling
3.passing remarks
4.staring
5.leching
6.making sexual gestures
7.stalking
8.touching
9.groping
10.physical assault/rape

___________ other

NO PROOF 

509. Word gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a womanWhoever intending to insult the modesty of any woman utters any word makes any sound or gesture or exhibits any object intending that such word or sound shall be heard or that such gesture or object shall be seen by such woman or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.

 

CALLING YOU

hi everyone

Blank Noise is planning another public intervention/ performance in Bangalore on the 15th of July, 2005.

Please contact me if you would like to be a part of making this happen.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Jasmeen

email: blanknoise@gmail.com

http://hemanginigupta.blogspot.com/

Train to Chennai
I wrote out this blog post in my head long before I was anywhere near a computer, and funnily now when I sit down to actually write it, whatever happened sounds like the narrative I've been unleashing on people not a real incident at all.I took the night train to Chennai Saturday night for a friend's wedding. I was travelling alone, and happy to have the Upper Berth of the three tier compartment. My mum came to see me off and worried, as she usually does, about the occupants: "That guy looks shady", she said, pointing to the occupant of the other Upper Berth but I brushed it aside as paranoia, reminded her I'd been travelling alone on three tier since college and then, once the train left, went up and straight to sleep.It was hard to sleep, despite the sheet covering me. I was restless and tossing from side to side. The guy in the Upper Berth next to me appeared to be jerking off, but I ignored him. Finally I drifted into a light sleep till about one a.m. when I felt something brush my foot. I moved my foot well under my sheet, thinking 'Funny, I didn't think I was tall enough to be extending out of my berth'.Then, about three in the morning, the lights are off, it's deathly quiet, the guy in the Upper Berth next to me (I haven't noticed him much so far, since I'm not wearing my lenses or glasses) gets restless. He wakes up, goes down, shuffles around, then comes back up and just sits still on his berth. Next thing I know (and I'm half asleep, crouched in my usual foetal-sleeping position facing him) he reaches out and touches me, between my legs, with the end of his foot. I start, jerk my hand out and push his foot away, so he withdraws immediately. I think (and why, why, why do women always do this) he must have made a mistake and just been stretching or something. Lots of people stretch their leg, unintentionally touching the other berth. I tried to drift back into sleep, thinking of an FIR I had filed earlier, on grounds of harrassment when a Maruti car, messing with mine as I was driving, eased up to my car, lightly bumped it and then veered away, it's occupants hugely amused that they had shaken me. The cop station, where I was offered tea and then commented upon, "You are so thin, yet so brave, Madam", proved more harrassing than the incident. My mind was running through that incident. Also it struck me as sort of unfair, in that deathly quiet compartment, that everyone would be fast asleep while I was left uneasily awake, wondering about the intentions of the man next to me and having to be on alert. I wanted to turn away from him, but in the back of my head an alarm bell had rung so I didn't.At 3:30 a.m., my Upper Berth neighbour reaches and touches my breast. I don't know what he was expecting. That I would simper coyly and turn away? That I would ignore him? Encourage him? Mind boggling possibilities.I'm hugely sensitive to men touching me, often stopping calling people who even casually throw their arm around me (it's just a thing I have), so this was trauma for me. I was up like a shot; my mind blank in my half-sleep and all I did was scream. It was strange, thinking back on it. I wasn't angry, I wasn't yelling expletives, or hell, even sentences or words. It was just like an animal-in-pain screaming. Shrill, loud, repetitive. No words, just screaming and screaming till the lights were flicked on, people hurriedly woke up, the TC came running.Upper Berth man says loudly aggressively, "Kya hua? Kya hua?" ("What happened? what happened?") and then slowly words formed in my head; the shock, the outrage, the sense of violation was replaced by a hysterical screaming, "Kya kar rahe ho?" ("What are you doing?") Again and again and again.The TC, sensing Upper Berth Man's apparent complete shock turned to me, still shaking in my berth. I could barely see anything, compounding my sense of disorientation. "Madam, you must have been dreaming," says the TC. No one else is talking. I realised in an instant that the whole episode could quickly turn against me. Everyone would be annoyed at being woken up by a silly, hysterical girl, the Upper Berth guy would be glad to evade responsibility, the TC glad to avert a potential nuisance.So I calmed down. "Sir," I pointed out, in my best English, "This is not the first time tonight this has happened. This man has been repeatedly touching me.""Are you alone, Madam?""Yes, sir."I think that's what did it. Upper Berth man was yanked down, the Railway Cops (they had come by too, by this time) grabbed hold of him, and the TC told me to come down and write out a complaint.The Man began begging for mercy. "You are ruining my life," he told me in Hindi. "Please forgive me." Then, in English, "I could not control myself." Like a Saamna editorial. I told him to stop touching me again. I told the cops to hold him back. I wrote in shaky handwriting something that resembled a complaint, on the back of the TCs name sheets. I was unsure what to write so I wrote coyly: "A man was touching my private parts". His baggage was pulled down and, still begging for mercy, he was led away. I went up to sleep. No one else in all the people who had gathered said a word either to each other or to me.I tried to sleep, felt a little tearful, found I couldn't text the one person I wanted to, and finally fell into restless sleep till 5:15 a.m. when we reached Chennai.I thought it was over, but the TC was back, and told me if I wanted to file an FIR (and I was sure I did) I would have to come to the police station. I told him I'd join him and waited for the compartment to empty. No one had said a word to me in all of this, which was fine, I didn't expect them to, but as they left the train, everyone passing me would look up, glance at me and then move on. It was horrible. I felt guilty somehow. For waking them up, for having screamed so much, for not just shutting up and going back to sleep, I suppose.As I left the train, the Man was outside, hands folded, begging some more. I walked with the TC, the Man behind us, surrounded by Railway Police. Someone else came up to me as I walked and said in a low voice, "Madam, treat me like your brother, I am a member of the public. Have mercy on this boy, madam, he has come to do a Railway exam. You will ruin his life Madam. As a member of the public, I appeal to you, Madam."I'm not a very angry person, so I didn't feel angry. I felt annoyed. And tired. Whose side was everybody on? "Where were you when this happened?" I asked him."Sleeping, Madam.""What did you do when you heard me?""I came running, Madam.""And then?""And now I request you, Madam?"I can't follow this kind of argument especially not after a night like the one I had had."I'm not in a particularly good mood," I said, "please go away." He did.The cops were waking up at the cop station in Chennai Central. Buttoning up checked chirts, joking sleepily on their walkie talkies. I was asked to sit, the Man thrown on the floor by me.The cop on duty was told what happened. He broke into Tamil. "You've come for an exam and this is what you do?" he asked the man. Man spoke no English, he was from Bihar. Another cop wandered in flicking a long cane stick and walloped the man, making large swishing noises. I felt like in a scene from Maximum City.I was made to file another complaint. The Man kept reaching out to touch my feet, "Ma, ma," he kept saying. In Hindi, 'don't ruin my life.'It's funny how everything becomes familial when a woman is concerned. The Member of the Public was my brother, my molester calls me his mother. My identity is submerged in this larger social structure. Soon I have another identity: The Hindu journalist. Every time I was referred to after that, I was The Hindu journalist. In Chennai, it's a very big deal.The Man is taken off into the lock up and half and hour later a woman cop shows up. I'm taken into another room, where she offers me boiling coffee from a thermacol cup and suggests, somewhat deferentially, that I should reconsider pressing charges because (again), "You will ruin his life Madam."I tell her in Tamil that, as a woman, she should understand my feelings. "I feel strongly about this," I say. She apologises and agrees that I could do whatever I thought best and she would facilitate.The Sub Inspector now arrives, I file a third complaint with many details (such as his name: Sanjeev Kumar, age: 28 and address: Madhubani District, Bihar).At 10: 30 I have to return to meet the Inspector. On my way to his room, I pass the Man in lock up. I cannot bear to look at him, I haven't throughout all this, except to notice two rings he wears on his two last fingers of the left hand, but my friend points out he is cowered in a corner, shirtless.In instances like this, you feel (or atleast I did) a huge overwhelming feeling. For me it was outrage. At his audacity, more than anything, and the fact that I could not call a tiny berth my own without someone impinging on that space. But when you want to respond with an equivalent grand gesture, such as filing an FIR, imprisoning the perpetrator, the system stalls you. In a devious way. It's not hard to do, it's just long to do, complex to do. Hours to wait. For Sub Inspectors, TCs to attest, women police, Inspectors, and I found out at 10: 30 am when I returned with a friend, some two hours just to make handwritten copies of the FIR. It's so exhausting and annoying you want to walk away, wash yourself, get food and sleep. That's how the system breaks you down. Through triplicate copies, not any direct refusal to do your bidding.Anyway, Sanjeev Kumar has been booked under Sections 354 and 509 of the IPC and under the Prevention of Harrassment of Women Act, 1998. It is a non-bailable offence for 15 days, during which he is in a remand facility. After which he needs someone to furnish a bail warrant; the bail amount is minimal. And then the hearing will be in a few months. I haven't decided if I want to come down from Delhi all the way for it.Everyone I told this story to, had a story of their own. My friend's tummy was rubbed up and down till she woke up, another woke up to find two hands on her breasts, my aunt woke up to find a man had straddled her, my mother woke up to a man running his fingers down her body... everyone has a story. I called my mum after I left the cop station the first time. I said, "Do you think I over-reacted?" And this other voice in my head laughed at me, and our society. A strange man, touches you twice in the middle of the night, and your greatest worry when you screamed and complained, is, "Did I over react"?!And some... almost, guilt... when people kept telling me I'd ruin his life, and when they looked hostile at my screaming. Some amazement that no one said a thing to me after the man was taken away, all happy elderly couples right beneath me, middle aged women beneath my berth. Not a word. Cops wanting to dissaude me. Some inexplicable class-consciousness feelings toward Sanjeev Kumar - "You dirty, low caste man touching me" - this is too uncomfortabe for me to believe I was thinking like that, but it happened so I record it.And now, some satisfaction that he is locked up for 15 days.Update: I took a flight back, like a wuss. And I felt like I was doing sort of a disservice to all the people who couldn't afford to buy their way out of a situation, but I just couldn't bear another three tier overnight journey. Really.

ON ALERT

HERE’S A LIST OF THINGS THAT PEOPLE CARRY TO FEEL SAFE ON THE STREETS.

° Things women carry to feel safe
° Kitchen knife/ (fruit knife)
° Stationery cutter blade
° Nail cutter
° Gun
° Pepper spray
° Whistle
° Note pad/ journalist
° Camera
° Long nails
° Mobile phone.
° Identity card
° Police no.
° Phone
° One small pin.
° Purse and index book.
° Money
° Pins.
° Pen.
° Dupatta

(I got the list of things from a questionnaire that I distributed at colleges in Bangalore while scavenging for Blank Noise participants. The above is carried by both boys and girls.)

WHAT DO YOU CARRY WITH YOU?

509. Word gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a womanWhoever intending to insult the modesty of any woman utters any word makes any sound or gesture or exhibits any object intending that such word or sound shall be heard or that such gesture or object shall be seen by such woman or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.

 

UNWANTED .SECTION 354 IPC

The photograph has been readjusted to make the 'perpetrators' unrecognizable. Blank Noise seeks to build dialogue about street sexual harassment and is not attempting isolate any one person or incident.
(year 2009)


He placed his hand on my breast and stood still. I didn�t even realize it until I looked down and saw his hand there.

�Excuse me! What are you doing!?�

Silence. He looks the other way.

�Hello! Mister?! Answer me!�

�It was an accident. The bus is crowded.�

The bus is not crowded. This is not an accident.

I start shooting him down.

Your name?
Rajesh Channaith

What do you do?
I manufacture mementos and trophies.

He answers the questions with ease. I am alarmed at his not feeling threatened. I call a male friend who is standing in the other end of the bus

My friend gets into a conversation before which he asks me if I was sure if this guy �really did it�.

My friend and he talk in the local language. Next thing I know is that the guy has his hand towards in close proximity with me, once again violating my space and asking me to forgive him.

He continues to explain the situation to my friend, saying that the bus was �crowded� and that this was an accident. I continue to shoot him down.

We get off the bus. He gets off the bus.

� I have a family. I have two children. Please don�t do this!�