Nupur Patny, a 21-year-old design student from Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology curated a sexual harassment map pointing out the hotspots for subtle sexual violence in the city. She named it ‘It’s not my fault’ and claimed that this can create awareness about the harassment prone areas and make a network among the victims, non-victims and the police.
Speaking to The Logical Indian, Nupur said, “The mapping is a part of my examination to check if women are able to come out to report harassments like eve-teasing, groping, and accidental nudging etc. It is my academic project which is about curating an extended mobile feature on the camera (Google Camera) which can work as post-incident support. The victims can report the harassment prone areas and alert the non-victims about the danger and the police.”
Nupur said that she started the project in the month of August and it is still a work-in-progress. When she presented her project idea in the women’s rights conference in Bengaluru, it was applauded by the officials.
“My personal experience is the reason that instigated the project. One day I was stared and followed by a man at Majestic Metro Station that created a huge apprehension in me. It was a public space and I was accompanied by my friends. Yet, I was subtly harassed. The worst part is that I could not report it,” Nupur added.
Women usually do not come out and report such harassments which eventually get buried and let the offenders get away with it.
Taking a note about this initiative, the officials of Bengaluru City Police ensured that they will help Nupur to carry out this comprehensive study and enforce action against it.
Nupur initially went to Cubbon Park and metro stations and placed the city map in the public space for women to pinpoint the danger zones through sticky notes. This helped her to get firsthand data about how many cases have taken place in each region.
Nupur said that even though the law has zero-tolerance towards sexual harassment and molestation, there is an apathetic attitude when it comes to dealing with harassments.
Once this examination gets completed, the extension app will be made available on all smartphones through Google Camera.
Also Read: Good To Know: How To Deal With Workplace Sexual Harassment?
