Who decides the right dress code?

For Haritha Rekha, a student of Govt Law College, Ernakulam, what happened recently was something unexpected and harrowing. She never thought she would be a victim of moral policing and facing abusive comments from another woman for her dressing style in Kochi. Haritha was shell-shocked when an old, sari-clad woman shouted at her in public for wearing a slightly patched jeans and top.

Haritha was in a restaurant to buy lunch. “There I met a teacher who I hadn’t seen in a while. So we sat there talking. All of a sudden, this woman came and asked me if I am a Malayali. I thought she was just curious as my hair is coloured. I didn’t reply. When my teacher asked about the woman, I replied in Malayalam. She heard me speaking in Malayalam and then started screaming, calling out to people. When everyone gathered, she asked them, ‘Do you think this girl’s dressing is proper for a Malayali girl?’ I fell silent for a minute as I had no idea how to react,” Haritha recounts the episode.

However, she gathered courage and retorted. The woman got angry when Haritha told her that her body is quite exposed through her sari. The woman walked out and continued insulting her even on the street. “She called an autorickshaw to leave. I also got in the same auto and asked the driver to go to the central police station. Even the auto driver was irritated listening to her. She was very rude,” explains Haritha.

In the station, the woman asked the same question to the police officer. “The officer asked her why she was poking her nose into other people’s business.” They settled the issue later. “The woman was not willing to reveal her identity. The only thing we know about her is that she is unmarried,” explains Haritha.

“I was wearing jeans and a loose top. It was fully covered. I still don’t know why she did that. One of my friends had to face a similar incident some time ago while travelling in a bus, again from a woman for using the mobile phone. In my case, the crowd was on my side because it was quite obvious that the issue was unnecessary,” she says.