‘This is my property’: Women bikers ‘harassed’ by a man on a highway in Bengaluru

By
Pramod Hegde
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Two women bikers were harassed by a man and his father on NICE Road in southern Bengaluru. The duo claimed that the land the bikers had stopped on was owned by them.

Women bikers harassed 

Amid International Women’s Day celebrations across the country, two women bikers were harassed by a man for stopping their bike on the main road, in “front of their residence” located on the road opposite.

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The incident took place on NICE Road in Bengaluru last Sunday afternoon when the women pit-stopped to satisfy their thirst for water on their way back from a Women’s Day ride.

According to reports, the bikers, Dr. Sharon Samuel and Priyanka Prasad were stopped on the side of the road ahead when a man, elderly looking, from a house across the road, began yelling and abusing them, asking them to leave.

In videos that surfaced on Twitter, the man yells, “This is my property. You are not supposed to stand here. What are you doing here? I am an advocate.”

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As the women try to reason with him he says, “You cannot drink water here. Go in front and go to the toll there.” As the women try to tell him they stopped to drink water, the man increases his voice and aggressively asks them to leave. “Leave. Don’t escalate. Go.”

When the women ask him to point out their mistake he states that the road they were parked on was “his property”. “You are standing at my gate. this is my passage to the gate. I cross from here and go.”

As the woman ask him to stop saying that the man puts his hand on one of the rider’s bike and pulls out the key. As the biker objects and tries to stop him, he jerks her hand away. “Now we’ll show you,” he says before he swiftly walks back to his house across the road as vehicles approach.

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The police have registered a case 

In this incident, the biker’s hand was allegedly twisted and swollen in the incident. The woman then called the cops helpline 112 when he denied to hand over the keys to them. Later in the day, the woman reportedly filed a complaint of harassment at the Konanakunte police station. After this, about 100 bikers gathered outside the police station to support the women.

The woman noted that people who had gathered nearby said that Manjunath, who claims to be an advocate, is notorious for causing such a fuss and has treated other bikers in a similar way in the past.

However, Manjunath claimed that the women filed a false complaint against him, and filed a counter-complaint of illegal trespass and assault against them.

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P Krishnakant, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), said an FIR had been registered based on the women’s complaint and further investigations were underway.

Twitter Reacts