MUMBAI: At a time when the rest of the country is grappling with the rampancy of sexual harassment and wondering ways to confront it, a young woman in Mumbai has been allegedly prevented inside a police station from fighting the malaise.

On November 18, the day a young Tehelka journalist complained to her managing editor about alleged sexual assault, a woman in Bandra tried to register a police complaint against some men for harassing her. But as she was filing the complaint, the woman was forced to “take it back” after a Youth Congress leader allegedly led a mob into the police station and, according to the woman, blackmailed her.

Bandra police and the politician denied the allegations. But the woman said she has a voice recording of what transpired at the police station and the CCTV footage could reveal the truth.

The woman wrote to police commissioner Satyapal Singh about the incident in a letter dated November 22. TOI has a copy of the letter, which carries a stamp of receipt from the commissionerate. However, Singh on Monday said he was on leave and had not seen the complaint.

The woman in her letter has said that she has been a victim of street sexual harassment for many years. Men in her area pass lewd comments, attempt to touch her and have even threatened her of acid attack. “Last December, I registered an FIR against a group of boys, but after that a gang of men barged into my house and threatened my family to withdraw the complaint,” she said. Her family recorded the incident on video.

Despite the complaint, she was continually harassed. On the afternoon of November 18, she was walking down a Bandra lane on her way to work when she was accosted by a group of youths and verbally abused. At 9.30pm that day, she visited the Bandra police station with some colleagues to lodge a complaint.

The police sent a cop with her to her area to identify the men. She could not find the men who had harassed her that afternoon, but spotted a vendor who she said had harassed her earlier. He was brought to the police station, which created uproar in the locality.

The woman said a mob led by Youth Congress leader Aijaz Shaikh barged into the police station. She said Shaikh tried reading the details of her complaint; he allegedly told her that the mob of women with him would register plaints against her and ruin her character unless she withdraws her complaint. She said she withdrew the complaint as cops remained indifferent.

Both Shaikh and the Bandra police rejected the accusations. “The woman keeps complaining. Nobody ever harasses her. She complained about an old man in the neighbourhood. How can an old man harass her? I asked the girl to come to us if there was any problem. I did not threaten her; I am not a goon,” said Shaikh.

Bandra police inspector R D Dhawale said the woman had wrongly complained against the old man.