When four women in UB City Mall noticed two men trying to take photos of them without their permission, they refused to take the harassment lying down. They snatched the men’s phones away, deleted the photos and lodged a police complaint against the men.
The women were at the mall on Tuesday evening, when one of them noticed two men – one in his late fifties and the other in his thirties – clicking photos of them. She immediately told her friends about it, who decided they should confront the men.
When they confronted the men, they discovered that they had taken quite a few photos of them.
An argument ensued between the men and the women, during which both sides were observed to be using abusive language. Security officials at the mall broke up the fight and called the police.
“We received a complaint that two men were clicking photographs of women in UB City Mall. We reached the spot and took the men into custody. They have now been released on bail,” said Vijay Hadagali, police inspector at Cubbon Park police station.
The two have been identified as Purushotham (59), a resident of Chikkalasandra, and Subramanya (35), a resident of Subramanyapura. ‘Both confessed that they misbehaved with the women and have been charged with sexual harassment,” said Vijay.
He also said that the women accused the two men of using foul language, while the men contend that both parties abused each other. “The victims snatched the mobile phone of one of the men and deleted the pictures, and forced the other to do it as well,” said Vijay.
The incident occurred around 5 pm and the duo was arrested around 7.30 pm. The police has registered a case under Section 354A and Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code. While Section 354A of the IPC deals with sexual harassment, Section 509 protects women from any word or gesture intended to insult their modesty.