It is encouraging to note that several complaints had been filed with the police with reference to this behaviour. The cops said it was 'human intelligence' and cameras that played a part in nabbing him
The Juhu police have arrested a 37-year-old man for flashing and making vulgar gestures at women, including college students, while riding his motorbike between Juhu and Khar. He has been identified as Nitin Bharadwaj, who resides in Malad.
A report in this paper cited how the culprit targeted women near malls and gyms along the Santacruz-Juhu-Khar stretch. The pervert would sheath his face with a helmet in order to avoid being caught on the CCTV.
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It is encouraging to note that several complaints had been filed with the police with reference to this behaviour. The cops said it was 'human intelligence' and cameras that played a part in nabbing him.
It is also good to see the cops taking cognizance of the complaints and focusing on catching the culprit. Before the awareness on sexual harassment and the data on crimes against women started getting amplified, actions like the one by the flasher were dismissed by society. Women were told not to complain or simply ignore the flasher, change their regular route or try to avoid the culprit.
It was generally perceived as flippant, errant behaviour and it was up to the targets to change their routines to avoid running into the flasher. This amounted to the age-old trope of blaming the target and not the culprit.
This crime is so widespread that women sometimes mistakenly think it is 'normal' or just something that comes in the territory of being a woman. Flashing is exhibitionism and it is the sexual arousal and thrill that the criminal gets in seeing his unsuspecting victim's reactions to the act.
The flasher must feel the full force of the law as this is a very serious offence and needs to be treated so. Most importantly, learn that sexual crimes do not have to be physical to have devastating psychological consequences for the survivor.
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