What began as a routine commute home turned into a traumatic experience for a 25-year-old Bengaluru woman, who alleged that she was sexually harassed by an intoxicated co-passenger on a Namma Metro train near the Majestic interchange on the evening of Tuesday, December 27.
The woman posted a video on social media, in which she said that the incident occurred during a crowded 15-minute ride as the train approached Majestic, one of the city’s busiest transit hubs. She said she was seated between two passengers when the man beside her got down and another man took his place.
The new passenger, she alleged, sat unusually close, leaving her with little room to move. Believing the lack of space to be accidental, she tried shifting her position. Soon after, she felt a hand pressing against her body in a way she found disturbing. When she moved again, the contact continued, with the man pressing his leg against hers.
“At first, I thought it could be a mistake,” she said. “Then I realised it was intentional. I was frozen. And when I understood what was happening, I was really angry.”
When her station arrived, the woman stood up, slapped the man, and demanded that he get up. She then discovered that he was also getting down at the same station. On the platform, she slapped him again.
In her video, the woman said the man cried and begged while intermittently smiling and speaking in Kannada, which she said she could not understand.
Metro security personnel intervened and escorted both individuals out of the station. The woman insisted on filing a complaint, after which the man was taken to the Upparpet Police Station.
At the station, the woman said she was informed that the man — identified as 55-year-old Mutappa — had allegedly been riding the metro for nearly an hour without exiting at any station, raising concerns that he may have been loitering on trains. She was also reportedly told he was intoxicated at the time.
Sources say the woman said she was dissatisfied with the police response, alleging that she was advised to simply move away if she felt unsafe in the future.
The Upparpet police said they spoke with the woman for about 30 minutes and contacted her mother by phone. Both the woman and her mother wanted the man to be warned to prevent him from repeating such behavior.
Police registered a Non-Cognisable Report (NCR), summoned the man for questioning, issued him a warning, and later released him. An NCR allows police to record information about an alleged offence that does not require immediate arrest without court approval.
“How would I know that someone sitting next to me is a person like this?” she asked. “Should I ask every man I meet, ‘Are you a predator?’”