80pc of Indian women face public harassment

NEW DELHI: Nearly four out of five women in India have faced public harassment ranging from staring, insults and wolf-whistling to being followed, groped or even raped, said a survey by the charity ActionAid UK.

The study - which polled over 500 women in cities across India - found that 84 percent of the respondents who experienced harassment were aged between 25 and 35 years old and were largely 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," Sandeep Chachra, ActionAid India’s executive director, said on Monday.

"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.

"Indian women face a barrage of threats ranging from child marriage, dowry killings and human trafficking to rape and domestic violence, largely due to deep-rooted attitudes that view them as inferior to men.

There were 337,922 reports of violence against women such as rape, molestation, abduction and cruelty by husbands in 2014, up nine percent from the previous year, according to the latest data from India’s National Crime Records Bureau.

The online survey, which was released on Friday, was conducted by British market research firm YouGov in early May. It polled 502 women living in cities across the country, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.