Karnataka: Woman chased by a group of men, harassed on Bengaluru street
Her husband to social media platform X to narrate how she had a dreadful escape from a group of men chasing her car at night
Bengaluru, the IT capital of India, draws thousands of people from across the country as it offers exciting job opportunities and unique work culture. However, the city is hogging the limelight for wrong reasons as a resident took to social media platform X to narrate how his wife had a dreadful escape from a group of men chasing her car at night.
The incident has triggered a debate on social media with users sharing their own experiences. In his X post, Srijan R Shetty said, “I’ve never felt unsafe in Bangalore-I know my privilege of being a Kannada-speaking male-but last Thursday night I felt how unsafe certain parts of the city are post-10 p.m. I’ve seen those horrific videos of fake accidents in Sarjapur where hooligans have tried to blackmail people in the car.”
“On November 8, my wife offered to drop off some other colleagues (2 females and one male), considering it was hard to get a cab from Sarjapur. Their car was chased down by a bunch of men for a few kilometers; she was smart enough to stop only on the main road and inform the cops as soon as possible.”
He said the men asked the car occupants to disembark but his wife and her colleagues didn’t give in and remained inside the vehicle. He also stated that the car was subsequently hit by some tempo drivers in a bid to build up pressure on them to get down. “None of the bystanders helped the three women and a guy in the car,” he lamented. According to him, his wife showed presence of mind by pulling over on the main road and promptly alerting the police.
“If it hadn’t been for her wits in calling the cops and then calling us and 10 of her friends to immediately join her at her location, the incident could have taken a different turn. This city deserves better than this; we need security, and we need it now. Sarjapur has been a hotspot for these incidents, and we need to figure out a solution to curb this menace,” said Shetty.
Sparks debate on X
The post has elicited a lot of reaction from social media users. One of them said, “Which number should you call in such an emergency? How fast is the response? Sarjapura Road is really the wild west of Bangalore - lack of infra, dangerous traffic and now this. We seriously had the opportunity to reimagine Bangalore metro living here. Only the lakes redeem.”
“I’ve had about 4-5 similar incidents, either by myself or others. Same modus operandi. Dashcam came to the rescue for some. For some, going to the police station and arguing for hours avoided any misdemeanor. But it’s scary on the roads, especially late at night. This ‘local angle’ is used the most,” commented a user.
“I have also seen this, some random guy with bike come in front of your car and make the scene like an accident, then ask for money , this is happening specially when you do t speak kannada , luckily my friend was from Hyd and knows the language and we got saved,” said another user.