‘They tried to push me inside the car…I resisted,fought back’

Komal still cannot forget that day. “I was returning from college with my friend,Himani Khurana when three boys in a car began to chase us. They started passing lewd remarks initially. But,when we reached near the Taxi stand,around the Sector 42 bus stop,they stopped the car and began to push me inside the car,” recounts the girl. When asked if she took help of the Police helpline number,she says,“That was the first thing we decided to do,but nobody attended the call.”

Seven months have passed since that incident,but Komal still finds it difficult to forget that none of the onlookers came to their help on that fateful day.

“Few people who were there,kept standing like mock spectators. It was only after the PCR van which was on its regular round arrived,that we were rescued,” shares Komal.

Taking cognizance of the incident,Chandigarh police then began to take the issue of harrassment of girls seriously and started the ‘Safe City Campaign’ under which Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Naunihal Singh visited various city colleges to spread the message of zero tolerance to harassment. The incident also motivated her college to start a ‘self-defence programme’ in co-operation with the Chandigarh Police.

“I have been attending all the self-defence programmes that have been organised ever since in our college. They have made me more confident,” says the girl who aspires to be an advocate in the future.