Hey guys

Last evening, an auto driver demanded my friend and I pay him 150 rs for a 2 kms journey. I took a photo of the auto's number plate so I could file a complain to the traffic cops later. I do this a lot, even when I'm travelling alone.

As soon as I turned to walk away, the auto driver started grabbing my shoulder and arms and screaming at me in Kannada demanding that I delete the photo. I tried to get his hands off me and walk faster but he wouldn't budge. Then he started taking photographs of me (took some 15 of them) and threatened me. My friend stood between us trying to protect me from being photographed, grabbed and hit.

I tried to quickly hail another auto to just get out of there but this guy along with 5-10 other auto drivers stood in front of the auto. He got into the front seat with the other auto driver, threatened to hurt him if he drove and started taking photos of me while I was in the back seat. This all happened with around 15 people standing around and watching.

It felt like my friend (a guy) was the only thing keeping them from attacking me properly/ shoving me into an auto and driving off.

Anyway, an auto union rep came and held the guy down till my friend and I walked away some 50 meters and got an auto and got out of there.

This morning- I went to the police to file an FIR (I'd already filed a complaint with the traffic police for the overcharging business). At the police station, I was mocked for not knowing Kannada, had to repeat my story to five officers who disregarded the entire thing as being the duty of the traffic police guys. When I told one officer that I was harassed and wanted to file an FIR- I was told "don't file an FIR otherwise the auto Union will pursue you personally".

Finally, after being made fun of for a bit at the station and going to 10 different rooms, I managed to sound stern enough to get a complaint registered (it seemed like I was interrupting their tea time which made the process of getting that complaint filed take twice as long). I have all the conversations I had at the station recorded on my cellphone.

After all the money that's being spent to ensure protection of women in public spaces, transportation and all the money that's being pumped into the police to ensure the process is smooth and not adding to the stress of being harassed- this is still happening.

So here's a question to my friends- do you know any journalist I could get in touch with who could help me re-bring (is that a word?) this situation to light? In Bangalore or otherwise?

Please tag people who you think may be able to help in the comments section/share this post.