delhi

Updated: Feb 13, 2018 08:38 IST

An unidentified middle-aged man masturbated inside a Delhi bus while sitting next to a 23-year-old woman in south Delhi and allegedly tried to molest her. The woman, a Delhi University student, reported the matter to the police with a video of the incident after which an FIR was registered at Vasant Vihar police station on Sunday.

The woman said no other passenger on the bus came to her support when she raised an alarm. The incident took place around 3pm on February 7 aboard an orange cluster bus plying on route number 774. The woman was returning home from college when she felt the seat shaking. “I was reading a book when the seat started shaking. I soon realised that the man sitting beside me was indulging in something wrong. He repeatedly tried to touch my waist with his elbow. I recorded his act on my mobile phone before calling him out,” she said.

The woman posted the one-minute video on Twitter the following day. Even five days after the incident, the accused remains unidentified.

“I confronted him and told him he had no shame. He appeared drunk and didn’t seem to understand what I was saying,” she said. She further said that the ordeal went on for about 10 minutes but the 30-odd other passengers in the bus allegedly ignored the incident.

“One woman who too appeared to be a student just responded by saying ‘achcha’ when I mentioned the incident. The man, meanwhile, got off the bus near IIT Delhi gate without any problems. I was shocked beyond belief and did not know how to react with people showing apathy. I was numb,” she said.

‘I was shocked beyond belief and did not know how to react with people showing apathy. I was numb.’

The woman returned home and mentioned the incident to her family and that she intended to lodge a police complaint. “But my family was hesitant. So, I uploaded the video on Twitter and tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Police and other authorities,” she said.

The woman finally decided to approach the Vasant Vihar police station on Saturday. She said that the police were supportive, but took almost six hours to register an FIR. “If as an educated woman, I was going to ignore the crime, how would I expect other women to report them to police. The man has to be punished,” she said.

Monika Bhardwaj, Additional DCP (south-west) denied any delay and said that the FIR was registered within an hour of her complaint. “We have the suspect’s photo and are making all efforts to identify him,” she said adding that a case under sections pertaining to obscene acts and sexual harassment has been registered.

In a similar incident in a local train in Mumbai in July last year, a woman had caught a man masturbating. When she warned of police action, he allegedly threatened her with rape.