In an incident that reiterates that public spaces in the country are violent to women in several ways, a man was caught masturbating on a KSRTC bus by a woman in Kerala. However, this time, the young woman who caught the man staring at her while masturbating, captured the incident on her phone camera and shared it on social media. And in a progressive move, the Kerala police have decided to file a suo moto case against the man on the basis of the video.
The incident, which took place on March 30, came to light after the video went viral on Facebook and WhatsApp.
In the video, the youth, seated parallel to the victim, stopped and got down immediately when he realised that he was being noticed. He was wearing a blue and yellow checked shirt and black pants and is seen carrying a green bag.
The woman, who captured the video without the man’s knowledge, immediately took to Facebook and asked people to share the post to help identify and nab the accused.
In her post, she said, "Help me please. The police should catch him immediately. Today while I was travelling from Kozhikode to Adivaram in a KSRTC bus, I experienced this (violation). While I was getting up from my seat to give him a piece of my mind, he escaped from the bus. Please share it as much as possible and help identify this 'decent' man dear friends."
The victim also informed that the accused got down at the Civil Station shop in Calicut to help locate the accused.
The video which was shared a lot came to the attention of the police, and a case was registered at the Nadakkavu police station.
"We came across this video on WhatsApp recently and filed a suo motu case against the offender. The case was filed by the Nadakkavu SI on Monday (April 2). Investigations are ongoing. We only have the face of the accused which we took from the clip. So far we don't have any leads," said an official from the Nadakkavu station.