HC applauds woman for standing up to lewd comment

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday applauded a young woman for standing up to the man who abused her at a traffic signal.

"We appreciate the girl for taking steps. We are glad that now girls are coming forward to complain about such harassment cases," said a division bench of Justice Kailash Gambhir and Justice Sunita Gupta.

"Its only two days back an incident had taken place where the girl complained about the lewd remarks made on her by the passerby. It is the mindset of people... that is why the court thought the mindset of people can be changed by launching mass awareness programme but despite various directions given by this court, success is not seen in near future."

Delhi University student Jasleen Kaur was abused at a traffic signal in Tilak Nagar area in west Delhi around 8 p.m. on Sunday.In her complaint, the woman told police that she was confronted by accused Saravjeet Singh alias Sunny at a traffic intersection, where he allegedly passed lewd remarks at her, while the people around chose to be mute spectators.

The woman took a photograph of the number plate of Singh's motorbike and when she was about to take a photograph of the accused, he posed for it despite being told that she would report the matter to police. He later sped away, said a police official.

The court also expressed displeasure at the Delhi government for moving at a snail's pace on implementing rape preventive measures such as awareness campaigns and gender sensitisation programmes.