Shocking! Four out of five women are harassed in public places in India, finds survey

[Zahoor Raja-Jani]

New Delhi: A survey by an international charity organisation ActionAid UK has revealed shocking details on the extent of harassment women face in public places in India.
As per a report in the Hindustan Times, the survey found that nearly four out of five women in India have faced harassment in public places.

The survey took into account responses from more than 500 women in cities across the country.

According to the survey, 84 percent of the women who faced harassment were in the age group of 25 to 35 years. And most of them were working women and students.

“For us in India the findings are not big news, what is noteworthy of the 500 women interviewed in India, is the extent to which women have responded and reported boldly about facing harassment and violence,” the daily quoted Sandeep Chachra, ActionAid India’s executive director, as saying.

“It is as if society is telling women that public spaces are not for them, and what is more interesting is that women are asserting their claim of these spaces,” he added.
The online survey, conducted by UK market research firm YouGov earlier this month, found that women across India, including in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata, were harassed in places like on the street, in parks, at community events, on college campuses and while travelling on public transport.

In other findings, the survey revealed that more than 75 percent of the respondents had been groped in public while over 50 percent of them had been followed at some point of time.

Nearly nine percent of them said they had been raped.
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