Won't take it lying down

Mass communication students create Facebook page to garner support against eve teasersu00a0

Three girls and a motive: Banish eve teasing! Thats the intention of the Facebook page made by Sahana Sriram alongwith her gang of girls. The page was created after one of them got assaulted at a hotel in Viman Nagar.

Sriram who studies at the Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication along with Alina Gufran, Haseeb Gull and Gareema Parekh was dining at Annapurna hotel when a man came and pushed Alina and threw her off balance.

When the girls asked for an apology, he flatly refused claiming that he was from the Air Force.

When one of the girls called up the police, requesting them to come over, they started asking irksome questions. "The policeman asked me what we were doing out so late and if my parents knew I was out for dinner," said Sriram. "After much delay the cops arrived but the assaulter had absconded by then."u00a0

When asked how they intended to spread this message against eve teasing through facebook, she said: "We want to gather public support and thought Facebook could provide us with a platform to air our concern.

However, we are no activists. All we want to see is how many people are with us."u00a0

The response has been overwhelming. The group already has over 550 followers.

The group has not taken up the matter with City Police Commissioner Meera Borwankar yet. "No, but we intend to do so soon. We just finished a signing campaign at ABC farms in High Spirits Club and not only have we gathered public support but also met a lot of girls who had gone through the same trauma," Sriram said.u00a0u00a0u00a0

The students, however, do not think the city has become unsafe for women. "Every city has such elements but that alone doesn't make it unsafe. Pune is still a haven for students but it's the duty of the police that they retain this tag," she said.u00a0u00a0u00a0

Sriram also suggested some security measures. "We need more security in and around girl's hostels. In addition, police should increase their patrolling at secluded places. For example Viman Nagar area has a row of slums and seldom does one see a Quick Response Team van or police patrolling there. What happened with us should not happen to any other girl."u00a0