A woman who was buying fruits from a roadside vendor in Bansdroni on the city’s southern fringes on Thursday evening was allegedly harassed by a man who made lewd remarks and stared at her till she protested.
The accused, Ranjan Majumdar, 42, has been arrested.
The woman said she faced this situation in the presence of her husband and friends and was worried thinking what more the accused could have done had she been alone.
“He was making lewd remarks which I first chose to ignore. But when he kept ogling at me, from my feet to head, I had to protest,” the woman said.
The woman and her friends alerted the local Regent Park police station. A team of officers went to the spot and detained the man. The woman then lodged a formal complaint, based on which the man was arrested.
The police said Majumdar, a resident of Bansdroni, was booked under IPC sections dealing with outrage of modesty of a woman and outrage of modesty of a woman through words and gestures.
The woman, after the arrest of the accused, shared her views on Facebook: “It is extremely important for women to protest against such behaviours. Those who feel there is no law, there is no administration, please take my case. There is an administration who took prompt action to bring the man behind the bars.”
An IPS officer said: “There are provisions in the IPC to safeguard the rights of a woman against such harassment. A woman can be molested even without being touched. She can be stalked without coming into physical contact. Photographing a woman without her knowledge or consent attracts a separate penal section. Gazing at a woman in a way that makes her feel uncomfortable is an offence.”