Kerala actress Anna Ben Nayarambalam shared a touching social media message to disclose a disturbing incident of sexual harassment. The actor, famous for her role in Kumbalini Nights, conveyed that she was molested by a man inside a mall in Kochi. The incident took place inside the Lulu mall in Kochi.
“Two men walked past me in a well-spaced passageway in Lulu hypermarket which hardly had people congesting and one of them not so accidentally grazed his hands on my back while walking past me,” the actress wrote in a moving Instagram post. She further added that the incident was so shocking that she was “caught off guard” and could not even respond instantly but that she immediately knew something bad had happened.
“Because it caught me off guard I couldn’t react immediately. I wanted to give him the benefit of a doubt but you know when something is just not right, you feel it,” she wrote. But it did not conclude there. The actor writes that the mocking men pursued them again and at a moment when they found her alone with her sister, they came close to them and tried to make a chat. After trying to make a silly conversation, the men escaped when they saw the actor’s mother approaching. The incident seems to have left the actor extremely upset.
“Being a woman has been very tiring, to be on guard every minute as you step out of your house. To watch my clothes when I bend and turn. To guard my chest with my arms in a crowd… And on the days I’m home, I worry about my mother, my sister, my friends who have to do the same things. It is all because of these sick men. You take away our safety. You take away our comfort and the joy of our womanhood. I despise you. As I type this I can think of a thousand things I could have told them and a hundred things I could have done. But I didn’t. I just couldn’t. I just wanted to let this out here so I could feel a little relief. To feel that I have done something about it knowing fully that they walked away without guilt or trouble. Knowing that they might do it again, it angers me”. the actor wrote.
The incident emphasizes the negligent perspective of the country toward women’s security, despite consistent incidents of physical, mental, and sexual brutality against women. The incident in Kochi and the victim’s narrative of the stress which affected her is also a reminder that elite women can be just as helpless in the facade of sexual harassment. Concluding her note, the actor had a rough note for men.”If you have done anything remotely inappropriate to a woman, know that you are the lowest form of life and you don’t deserve anything but hell”.And to women, she said, “I hope you have the courage to give a tight slap on the face of such men.”
The Police have registered a case. The police said that though they were yet to obtain a complaint from the actor, a case based on her social media post has been registered. “The CCTV footage in the mall was examined and her allegations are found to be the primary assumption as true. A case is hence being reported to summon Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC,” said a senior officer with Kalamassery police station.
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