Eve Teasing Syndrom | Cover Story

Arun Sharma, a Nepali, has been jailed and fined $ 60,000 for trying to touch the sensitive body parts of a girl child and trying to grope her in a theatre in America.

Arun Sharma, 54, originally from Taulihawa went to America some 25 years back, and holds an American citizenship. He works in the world-renowned Motorola company, the makers of pagers and cellular phones. He has a wife, a son and a daughter who live with him in the US. Arun Sharma was first arrested in 1990 for trying to 'touch and hold' two women inside a theatre.

This time he got arrested while trying to touch and grope a 12-year-old girl, who had come there with her mother and sister to watch Titanic. According to the people who were in the theatre, he was shifting from one chair to another before the movie started. Police found 15 movie tickets in his pocket - in that 13 were of Titanic. Now he has been barred for life to go anywhere near children under 16 years of age besides his own children and his American ID has been stamped 'Sex Offender'. The court has also ordered him not to go inside any theatre. He has been warned that he could be sentenced to imprisonment for 15 years if he is arrested for sexual misconduct ever again.

Contrary to that, according to reports in newspapers few days back, the transportation workers in Biratnagar went on strike for four hours when a lady slapped a bus conductor for teasing her. Women here are verbally and physically abused in buses and public places. The men try to stand very close to women in buses, touching them. They put their hands on top of the women's on the handstand, they try to touch the uncovered parts of women's body, try to pinch them on the sensitive parts, try to fondle them. These acts of sexual misconduct are not taken as a serious problem or a crime till date. When we had a joint discussion with 35 girl students from Padma Kanya Campus and 20 from Everest College, everyone came up with their own account of some kind of sexual harassment they've experienced in buses, temples, theatres or other crowded places. Among them, a B.A. third year student from Padma Kanya Campus said that she is now scared to take a crowded bus because a few days back, a guy standing behind her in a bus from Chabahil unhooked her bra from top of her blouse. Durga Sharma from the same college walked out of a movie in the middle when a guy sitting next to her started feeling and pinching her. She had gone with her mother's sister but she couldn't complain to her because she feared she might tell everyone about it and make fun of it. "Instead I got her off her chair saying the movie was not good," she says.

What the law says
There are laws against sex offenders in Nepal. It is stated in the laws that "If someone touches anywhere from head to toe of any girl above 11 years of age besides his own wife, it would be considered 'intended rape'. In such cases, the offender shall be fined Rs. 500 or sentenced for a year in prison or both." However, it's not mentioned in the laws as how to go about complaining about such 'intended rape' - whether they're supposed to go through police or direct to the court. Advocate Chhatra Gurung who has been involved in activities for the legal rights for women, says, "Most women stay quiet because of the fear of being demeaned when they tell people that they have been touched or groped. Maybe because of that, no 'intended rape' case has been filed in the court till today." Mr. Gurung is of the opinion that the 'intended rape' cases should be dealt as criminal cases and should pass through the police, in which case, the police can arrest the offender as soon as it's reported.

Why can't the abused women come forward and say they have been a victim of such misconduct? Suneeta, studying in B.A. 3rd year in Padma Kanya Campus says, "Who do I tell such things? If we try to pinpoint at the guy who misbehaves, we fear that they might come back for revenge when we're alone. The spectators never support the victims, on the contrary they too have a laugh at it. Even police might tease us if we go to them." Most men who misbehave taking advantage of a crowded place are adults and seemingly educated people. Shova, who studies in Everest College says, "We understand that physical contact is unavoidable in a crowded bus. But some try to touch us in parts they should not. If we go stand near mature men fearing that the young people might tease us, these men themselves try to take advantage of the situation more. Sometimes it's unbelievable, men of our grandfather's age come down to such activities."

Not a disease, a social crime
Psychologists agree that mostly it's mature men who indulge in such behaviour. According to them the kind of symptom is seen in mature men with sexual dissatisfaction, sexual diseases or with a kind of tumour in the front portion of their brains. The sociologists tell us that some social factors are also to be blamed for the problem. A psychiatrist with Mental Health Project Dr. Vidhya Dev Sharma opines that it should be taken as a social crime and not a disease. He says, "The mature men are already sexually exposed, so they think that no one would believe that they could do such a thing."

There can be no two opinions that there should be more strong laws to stop the sexual harassment against women and that these laws should be followed strictly, and that the awareness should be spread. But for now even if the witnesses of such incidents start speaking out against it, and women come forward boldly with their problems, it would help to control the crime to a great extent.