Karnataka SRTC conductor booked for sexually harassing college student, forcing her off bus
Police registered a case under Section 79 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for “insulting the modesty of a woman” through words or gestures.
Police registered a case under Section 79 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for “insulting the modesty of a woman” through words or gestures.
Police registered a case under Section 79 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for “insulting the modesty of a woman” through words or gestures.
Kasaragod: Manjeshwar Police on Tuesday booked the conductor of a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus for allegedly sexually harassing a 21-year-old undergraduate student and verbally abusing her during her morning commute to college in Mangaluru.
The computer science student, a Kannada-speaking resident of Mangalpady panchayat in Kasaragod, said she did not know the conductor’s name but identified the bus by its registration number: KA 19 F 3421. She said he forced her to get off the bus, causing her to miss an internal exam.
The student boarded the crowded bus at Bandiyod. She said the conductor targeted her the moment she entered because he had misbehaved with her a month ago, and she had confronted him then. “This time, he asked me to go back when there was no space to move an inch. He knew that, but he used it as a pretext to abuse and humiliate me in front of the passengers,” she said and added that the conductor even touched me inappropriately, too.
According to her, the conductor stopped the bus three times and ordered her to get down. The fourth time, she got off the bus, tired and mentally blank, she said. “None of the passengers stood up for me. I got off the bus and called my papa,” she said.
She said the conductor had misbehaved with her a month ago, and that she believed he was “taking revenge” this time. When she protested, he allegedly shouted at her and said, “Do whatever you want”, before forcing her out of the bus. Stranded on the roadside, she said she was too stressed to reach college and missed her exam.
Her father, who works in a restaurant, and her uncle arrived at the spot and took her to Manjeshwar Police Station, where she filed the complaint.
Police registered a case under Section 79 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for “insulting the modesty of a woman” through words or gestures, an offence punishable with up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine.
Manjeshwar police said the case would be transferred to Kumbla station as the incident occurred within its jurisdiction.