Eve-teasing, stalking flout woman’s right to life: Court

Eve-teasing and stalking violate women’s right to life and liberty and are a menace that makes them feel unsafe, a Delhi court has observed. The court also observed that eve-teasing and stalking are a “ridiculous form of enjoyment for men but physical and mental torture for women”.

It said a large percentage of women have faced or are facing this menace and find themselves vulnerable to the threat of eve-teasing everywhere, be it a public transport system, public place, mall or multiplex.

Metropolitan magistrate Susheel Bala Dagar’s observation came while holding 22-year-old Rajesh, a resident of Sultan Puri in North-west Delhi, guilty of stalking a girl and uttering words, making gestures intended to insult her modesty and sentenced him to three months in jail. “Eve-teasing has become a menace in the society due to which women feel unsafe and nervous to move out alone. Eve-teasing is a typical social crime that violates the right to life and liberty of the women in the metropolitan cities,” the court said.

It said eve-teasing and stalking violate a woman’s right to live with dignity and the convict must be awarded a sentence that discourages the other like-minded people from doing such offences. “Acts of stalking, passing lewd remarks and gestures, brushing against the woman’s body and passing vulgar comments are some of the things which women in metropolitan cities face all the time and what exactly happens simply depends upon the opportunity which the perverts gets,” the magistrate said.