This is one such offense that is mostly committed in public places
where the male in the society finds it that easy to eve tease a girl in
the middle of the street. Not only in India but all over the world
sexual crimes are the most difficult to prove legally as the offender’s
device perfectly planned ways to harass women in different ways. The
most common thing told to a woman in any society not restricted to
India is that if she wants herself to be safe from men sexual harassing
her or even eve-teasing her for that matter, she must not wear modest
or conservative clothing and if I could put it in the terms spoken by
the Kerela Sessions Court recently quoting, “Provocative Clothing”
and further blaming the women for provoking in sexually provocative
dresses and granted bail to the accused. Most women who get eve
teased on the streets of India and young or teenage girls who are
unaware of many facts involved with eve teasing either won’t be
aware of the fact that they were just eve teased and would rather be
interpreting it as something that happened to them because of
something they did like wear a specific type of clothing and the other
girls who are aware of eve teasing don’t or wouldn’t know how to
speak up for themselves against it.
Women all over the world face various types of harassment and the
most prominent among them is sexual harassment which is
experienced by women all over the world and is not restricted to
India. To answer the first question as to what is eve-teasing, means to
harass a woman by playfully, maliciously, physically, or
psychologically making fun, provoking, annoying embarrassing her
through comments, remarks, gestures, jokes, physical contact, and
taunts. The term surprisingly even-though happens all over the world
in numerous countries is not a term used in Britain, European
countries, and United States but is mostly used in South-Asian
countries.
1 https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-5726-eve-teasing-in-india.html, Legal Services India.
We are living in the 21 st century where women are much more
progressive than they were 10 years before and we prove that by
seeing the increase in the number actively participating in educational
opportunities and job opportunities but despite all of these things
existing we are still in a society where a woman can’t walk on the
street without thinking twice and fearing the very fact that any coming
moment she might be in danger. In the case of Rupan Bajaj & Others
vs. KPS Gill I the Supreme Court defined modesty in women. As
more female students, women, and others enter educational
institutions and workplaces, their safety is critical to a civilized and
cultured society. The experiences of women and girls in overcrowded
buses, metros, and trains are harrowing and terrible.
Indian Penal Code deals with eve-teasing cases through its sections
354 and 509 which show an increase of 13.05 percent in assault or
criminal force against women with intent to outrage her modesty; and
an 18.9 percent decrease in incidents of insulting the modesty of
women, respectively, from the year 2015 to 2016. Today women are
still much aware of the self-defense techniques that are required to
deal with eve teasing such as carrying Swiss army knives, pepper
spray, etc.
The patriarchal worldview of the Indian guy is intimately tied to Eve-
teasing. Men are socialized to feel that they are physically and
emotionally stronger than women. They believe they are doing
nothing wrong by just having fun. In India, eve teasing affects every
woman who ventures outside her house in some way. Every lady has
her personal space. Anyone who enters her private area gives her
difficulty or injures her. It can be found everywhere, including
beaches, roadways, cinemas, buses, and educational facilities. It is an
example of patriarchal masculinity. The cause of this taunting
behavior is gender segregation and most of the male perspective. The
Indian penal code specifically mentions the punishment for the
offenders of sexual harassment under section 354A which is three
years of imprisonment or a fine or both. Further mentioning the
2 https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-5726-eve-teasing-in-india.html
precedent cases Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, the supreme court
made guidelines for sexual harassment where they laid down that any
physical contact or advances in the workplace in regards to sexual
favors, sexually colored remarks, showing pornography, or any other
verbal or non-verbal form of conduct of sexual nature.
Concluding this article, there must be strict regulations and rules
when concerning this offense and this offense must be treated as an
independent offense. This is a very serious offense and if only
combated at an early stage it can be solved otherwise it would end up
resulting in a very serious psychological issue among women.