Mard ko bhi dard hota hai

By: With Alisha Coelho, Kranti Vibhute and Urvashi Seth

‘Harassed’ by female colleagues, MiD DAY reporter Varun Singh finds nobody is willing to help a man in distress. P.S. it’s International men’s day

When a woman complains to a bystander that she has been molested or someone is following her, the guy is at the receiving end of abuse or a few punches, knocking the air from his lusty sails.

On International Men’s Day, today, we witnessed that the same treatment is not meted out to men who are harassed.

Bachao! Urvashi, Alisha and Kranti pretend to harass Varun, but none of these men came to his aid.

We got MiD DAY female reporters to harass Varun Singh in full view of passersby yesterday. Not a single person, including cops, came to his aid.

Bus Karo

Mahalaxmi bus stop

I walked towards the bus stop with my supposed trio of tormentors following me at a distance.

Two men who were chatting with each other at the bus stop stopped mid conversation and looked on interestedly as the girls and I staged a ‘fight’.

Hey, Handsome! The girls, Alisha, Urvashi and Kranti, harass Varun at a bus stop in Mahalaxmi. The men look on passively.

One of the girls asked me my name and even started pulling my bag.

I asked the men for help, but they looked on in stony silence.

I kept requesting the men to help me out but they watched me like they were watching a film. When I kept prodding, one of them said, “What can we do? We can’t help you out!”

Chowky jao, band bajao

Haji Ali junction

I approached a traffic police officer, who was already stressed with the heavy traffic on the junction.

I told him the three women (pointing to my colleagues) have been following me since Mahalaxmi and were passing lewd comments.

Get Those Girls: Varun Singh asks this traffic cop to help him, as the girls were following him and passing lewd comments.

The traffic cop responded saying, “I cannot help you. Please go to the police chowky.”

So I told him that the girls were right here and so he should act immediately, but the police officer insisted I go to the chowky and even gave me a piece of advice.

“Arre, go to the chowky and these girls will follow you there.”

Legal blocks

Esplanade court

I went to the Esplanade  court in the afternoon and approached a lawyer, and told him I have to register a complaint.

The lawyer said  he would help and told  me to tell him my story. I said that three girls were teasing me and no one helped out.

The change was dramatic. He said he couldn’t help me and I would have to “get a complaint registered with the police at Haji Ali.”

Help Me, Please: Varun Singh approaches a lawyer at Esplanade court.

I reminded him that he had mentioned that it was not important to register a complaint at Haji Ali, but the lawyer seemed to have a sudden and convenient attack of amnesia.

I asked him how could I find him again (after filing my complaint at the police station). He said, “I am always here. I will be standing here.”

However, he refused to give me his number. I asked for his name and he said, “I am Swami, ask anyone about me,” and vanished in a flash of black and white.

Men’s Day

International Men’s Day is celebrated on November 19 every year.

It started in 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago and was supported by the United Nations and received in principal, support from men’s groups in USA, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.

Case Study

Savio D’souza, a victim of wife harassment, approached the law for help, but came away disappointed. He said, “My wife got a divorce in the church. She used to come home drunk at 3 am and beat me.

We have separated, but she’s staying in my house and I had to stay on the streets for nearly 18 months.”

Today, Savio and nearly 500 such men will march to Matralaya from Mulund, to protest the law which doesn’t give any relief to a man who is harassed by his wife or a women.

The march will comprise members of Protect Indian Family Foundation, Save Indian Family and Child Welfare Family Foundation, all of whom work for protecting the rights of men.

The men are protesting against 498 A (dowry harassment). They will submit a letter to the home ministry asking for an amendment in the law to protect men.