> Holy S**t:Pervert Mumbai

On New Year's Eve, I was supposed to click pictures of revellers at the Gateway of India, but what I witnessed instead has left me shaken. A young woman was groped by some 60 perverts in plain public view, while her male friend, who tried to protect her, was pushed aside violently. The 10 harrowing minutes the helpless woman cried for help as the perverts abused her, shook my faith in the city I have lived in all my life. I thought such things happened only in Delhi. I was clearly wrong.
I was at the place at 11.35 pm with my camera, taking pictures that captured the mood of the New Year celebrations. I was atop the temporary watchtowers erected by the cops.
After a few minutes, as the crowd grew larger, I could vaguely make out a youth aged around 25, surrounded by a mob of around 60 to 70 people. When I zoomed in, I saw the girl of about the same age being groped by the crowd.The girl was screaming for help but her voice was drowned in the commotion. Her companion tried to shield her but found himself helpless. The presence of 50-odd policemen at the site did not deter them. Even as she cried pitifully, I saw them pull at her dress, leaving it torn from below the waist.
In the middle of this pushing and shoving, the girl fell down. The wild men, taking advantage of her, pounced on her with even more venom. After an agonising 10 minutes, the two managed to extricate themselves from the crowd and leave the venue.
A few metres away I saw a middle-aged saree-clad woman being groped. Mercifully, police escorted her away before the situation got worse.
Ironically, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil had visited the site only minutes before the first incident. I later checked with the Colaba police station and found that no police complaint was lodged.
Police speak
PSI Umesh Kadam, who was on duty at Colaba police station on the night expressed surprise and said, "Nobody filed a complaint with us. We haven't received a report about any such incident. I have been on duty in the police station the whole night."

The Commissioner of Police, AN Roy said that no action can be initiated in a molestation case without the victim filing an FIR.

When DCP Zone 1, Brijesh Singh was asked about this, he said, “There is a possibility of the victim not coming forward, in that case we will have to find some other way to take them to task.”

The Colaba police have arrested three boys for allegedly stealing the mobile phone of the young woman, who was molested at the Gateway of India on December 31.

Rizwan Shaikh (19), Chand Ali Shaikh (17) and Abid Ali Shaikh (17) have confessed to the theft, after they were detained with two of their friends in the molestation case, yesterday morning.

Brijeshkumar Singh, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Zone I, said, “During interrogation, Rizwan, Chand and Abid admitted to stealing the phone. But we have nothing to prove that they molested her.”

However, Rizwan has a previous case of eve teasing registered against him.

DCP Singh said, “As no one has filed any complaint of mobile theft or molestation, we have taken suo moto action. Sub-inspector Rahul Naik has filed a complaint of theft and a case has been registered under Section 379 (theft) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) against these three boys. Chand and Abid will be sent to Dongri remand home because they are minors.”

“We are looking into the records of the mobile phone. We will then try to zero in on the name and other details of the victim,” Singh added.

Lee and Maya, a couple from Sydney, were also at the Gateway of India on New Year’s Eve, when a mob surrounded them and molested the woman.

Maya says she was badly bruised when over 20 men tried to rip off her clothes. The couple somehow managed to escape and chose not to file any police complaint.

They only decided to voice their nightmarish experience after seeing footage of a girl (still untraced) being molested by the mob there on in news channels.

“Men swarmed in from everywhere and tried to rip off my clothes.

Somebody touched my back and it was then that I realised that this place is really unsafe. I asked my boyfriend to stand behind me to protect me from the crowd. They were grabbing me from all directions and I could do nothing, but scream,” Maya told MiD DAY.

Lee and Maya had planned to tour different cities in the country. But after this shocking incident, they have called off their plans.

“We used to get strange looks from people for being foreigners, but we never really felt unsafe. After this incident, we fear for our safety. We are terrified,” said Lee.