Suman Sharma, Chairperson, RWC Tells Us How To Deal With Phone Harassment

Sunday, September 18 2016, 08:45:35

Drishti Bodhraj Premprakashi

JWB Blogger

Suman Sharma, Chairperson, RWC Tells Us How To Deal With Phone Harassment

JWB Post

July 7, 2016

The recent case of harassment faced by over 1500 women in Delhi and Gurgaon has left us worried. A 31-year-old man named Mohammed Khalid was arrested for sending lewd messages and making threatening phone calls to these women. It took a while for the police to catch the culprit as he had his papers registered under the wrong information.

I’m sure that many of us have been through something very similar, be it on social media or text messages. But what should we exactly do when something like this happens to us? One common way is obviously telling a male elder in the family but what should you do when you’re on your own?

We spoke to Mrs. Suman Sharma, the Chairperson of Rajasthan State Commission for Women (RWC) about what to do in such a situation. Here’s what she said.

“The first thing we need to understand why they do this. They’re not in their right minds. They enjoy harassing women and girls and think that harassment is all fun and games. The patriarchy here is to blame too. They think that they are allowed to commit offences like this just because they’re men,” she said.

“So, when you come across such a situation, do NOT ignore it. Take a note of the number and go file an FIR in the police station. Do not be worried about all the formalities that you’ll have to go through. Do not have the ‘leave it’ attitude towards an offence like this. We need to know that the law is very strong, and there are laws against forms of harassment like this case. But, the laws will only come into action if you file an FIR. You can also go to your State’s Women Commission. Our team will have the culprit’s phone number traced, and we will find him.”

What should we do in a case where the police disagree to file a report?

“If a policeman disagrees to file a report, a case will be filed against the officer. It is not necessary that the victim should visit a police station in their vicinity. They can go to any branch in their city and request for a Zero FIR, which cannot be declined by any police officer. All we need to do is to have legal awareness and be quick to file an FIR. We need to use our rights properly, and if it does not work out at a lower level, you can always report to an officer at a higher post. “

I think it is about time we stand up for ourselves rather than depending on the male members of our families.