B'lore women beaten up for wearing western attire

Going by the recent spree of attacks against women in Bangalore, it is no longer safe to wear western outfits in the country's IT capital.

Such attacks have reportedly taken place at Indranagar, Brigade Road, Koramangala and the Mount Carmel college area, when women have been assaulted for being dressed in western attire.

The first incident occurred on February 6 at the posh Brigade Road, where a group of girls were allegedly attacked by a gang of men, for wearing western clothes and smoking on the street.

The men allegedly abused the women and then beat them up. An e-mail highlighting the incident adds that when the women asked a nearby policeman for help, he advised them to wait for the arrival of the police van.

These girls later lodged a complaint at the local police station.

A similar attack was reported at Indranagar on February 17, when a girl traveling back home from her German class was attacked by a group of men. The men followed her on a bike and blocked her way. They abused her in Kannada, and when she retaliated by slapping one of them, he punched her in the face.

The third incident was reported at Koramangala, where a 28-year-old woman was allegedly assaulted by a group of men, who thought she was part of the 'pink chaddi' campaign.

In another incident near the Mount Carmel College, a young filmmaker was attacked by a group of men, who told her that she deserved the assault for daring to wear jeans and a sleeveless kurta.

In spite of several mails being circulated about these attacks, all attempts to get in touch with these women failed. While some of the victims promised to get back in touch with this correspondent, others said they did not want to be identified.

Three of these incidents have been reported to the police. While the Indiranagar assault case has been reported to the deputy commissioner of police (East), the incidents at Brigade Road and Mount Carmel College have been reported to the Cubbon Park and High Grounds police stations respectively.

The three police stations confirmed to rediff.com that they had received these complaints. The police officials added that investigations were going on, but refused to share any details.

When queried by media persons, state Home Minister Dr V S Acharya claimed to be unaware about these attacks, but added that he would look into the matter and take suitable action.

A member of the Shri Ram Sena, which recently beat up a group of women in a Mangalore pub, pleaded innocence in the matter and declared that the Sena would fight its battle in the court, not by assaulting women in public.