Couple harassed on Kolkata train, woman threatened over wearing jeans, tshirt
In what seems like a re-run of the Kolkata metro incident, a young couple faced harassment onboard a local train while traveling from Kolkata’s Sealdah station to Barrackpore on Saturday.
A 28-year-old MNC employee was returning home with his 24-year-old girlfriend on Saturday night. They had boarded the Krishnanagar local train from the busy Sealdah station at 9 pm.
Inside the train, the couple had requested a middle aged man to shift a bit so that the couple could sit together side by side. But the person refused, stating that he won’t move, as he won’t get the fan.
Here’s a translation of the woman’s post:
Like every other day, I boarded a train from Sealdah. I asked some people to adjust in the seat so that we could sit too, but they rudely refused to. One of them said that he wouldn’t shift leaving his place under the fan. Somehow, we managed to squeeze in, when the co-passengers started yelling, ‘this is not the ladies’ compartment, go to the ladies’ compartment. These uneducated people didn’t seem to know that this was a general compartment, not exclusive to men. At last, we gave up the seat and moved away. This time, the man who had earlier refused shift from his seat under the fan moved to where we were sitting. So I just asked him, ‘Kaku, how come you are moving now? Aren’t you feeling hot?’
To that, he responded ‘Go home and sit on each other’s lap’
And then some more: That Kolkata metro case happened because of people of your generation’
Another said: Don’t come in a train dressed like this (I was wearing a tshirt and jeans)
I just want to say, is this our country? Where women are meant to hear such things? This is our new society, where such behaviour is a daily routine on trains and buses? I just want to ask, is this the behaviourwhich can be expected from the seniors [sic]?
