Hyderabad braveheart takes on harassers

Hyderabad: Unlike in Bengaluru, where bystanders watched men molest and harass women, city-based NGO member Milind Chandwani and his friend decided to step in when a similar situation arose in Hyderabad.

Early in the evening on January 2 at Sanjeevaiah Park railway station, Mr Chandwani saw a  group of drunk men harassing women passengers. As other passengers watched, Mr Chandwani, a former techie, decided to confront them.

“We were waiting for the train at station on our way back home. A train carrying several passengers halted at the platform. We heard men shouting abuses at women and calling them offensive names. There were three men standing on the platform and harassing the women, who were inside the train,” Mr Chandwani told this newspaper.

He and his friend Gopi Krishna walked up to the gang and tried to talk them. “Before walking up to them I stared at them, hoping to stop them. But that only seemed to encourage them,” he said.

He picked up a stick, walked up to the group and told them to stop.

“I used a typical line, ‘Aapki, meri, kisi ki bhi behen ho sakti hai, aapko bhi achcha nai lagega koi usse chedega toh (She could be your sister, you would not like it if someone did this to her)’. They abused the women more.  At one point one of them started pushing me too,” Mr Chandwani said.

He called the police while the drunks tried to attack him. It led to a scuffle but Mr Chandwani had the upper hand. 

“They called another person, their leader, from outside. But he took them away, sating what they did was wrong,” Mr Chandwani said. 

The police took time to reach the spot. “By then our train had come and the group had left. I gave all information to the police and agreed to help identify the suspects,” he said. 

A police official said they had not identified any suspect yet.