Mumbai: Woman ‘insults modesty’ of neighbour, booked – Times of India

MUMBAI: In an unusual instance, a 53-year-old woman from Goregaon has been booked for insulting the modesty of her 36-year-old neighbour. The accused allegedly taunted the victim repeatedly for her short hair, clothes and called her a “eunuch”. The victim, a general manager with a private company, had moved as a tenant to the apartment complex in December 2020.
An FIR was registered against the accused woman, a tiffin supplier, on Saturday under IPC sections 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 500 (defamation).
“My client was subjected to gross harassment at the instance of her neighbour, a woman, by uttering words and exhibiting gestures of extremely derogatory nature that would amount to outraging and tarnishing modesty of any woman only because she’s a single woman living as a tenant independently and has a ‘bob cut’. The matter is currently under investigation,” the victim’s lawyer Siddhesh Borkar said.
In her statement to the police, the victim said that for the first few days after she moved into the building, she had availed tiffin service from the accused. However, since she did not like the food, she stopped the service and settled her dues. The woman said on December 12 when the accused was not home, her son hosted a party. “The music was being loudly played till 3.30 am, so I went to the door twice and requested them to turn down the volume. After that I stopped interacting and talking to the family,” the victim said.
She alleged the accused, in retaliation, started taunting her for her short hair. The victim alleged she would stand outside her house and make comments to humiliate her such as “I don’t know if she is a psycho, a girl or a boy? Her voice is like that of a dog.” She even went to the extent of slut-shaming her. The victim said this went on for a month, but she ignored her.
The matter escalated on January 11 when the victim was visiting another neighbour. She said the accused first commented on her trousers and loudly questioned if she had soiled it by wetting herself. The accused even followed her to her friend’s house and started abusing her loudly. The victim alleged she called her names such ‘prostitute’ and ‘slut’, questioned her gender and even abused her parents. She accused her of inviting and soliciting men at the house. The accused told her she was a tenant and should live like one.
The victim said she then contacted a policeman who lived in the building. He advised her to call up the 100 police helpline. With the harassment allegedly continuing even after that, the victim finally lodged an FIR.