Kolkata: 23-year-old student alleges sexual assault for smoking

Women are constantly being subject to rules. There are things you cannot do apparently. And when you do, you are beaten up. This is what happened to a young girl in Kolkata. A 23-year-old student of Jadavpur University has lodged an FIR against an unidentified person for allegedly sexually assaulting her. Reason? The accused couldn't stomach the fact that she was smoking being a woman.

The incident took place when she was inside an auto-rickshaw with two more friends in Baghajatin area under Netaji Nagar Police station limits. According to the girl's complaint, the person verbally accused her and grabbed her cigarette. He also forcibly entered the auto.

The girl protested against his questionable behaviour following which the man molested and beat her up.

Anchal Goswami, a student of Gender studies told SheThePeople.Tv, "To smoke or not to smoke is a matter of choice. Men are insecure of almost everything that women do. Smoking and drinking doesn’t give anyone the license to assault a woman. Sometimes I wonder, are we really free and live in a democratic country? “Smoking to injurious to health.” People have misunderstood it with “smoking is not for women.”

Moral Policing in Kolkata at an all time high

Recently, a group of furious women barged into the premises of a local sports club in Howrah's Shibpur area in West Bengal to protest against girls wearing immodest shirts and skirts to practice table tennis at this club.

Interestingly, the female students were aged between eight to 12. The women, however, felt that children wearing half-pants/shorts was "immodest".

Read : Youth Go Live On FB To Deal With Moral Policing

Their protests, backed by illogical reasoning, shocked the club authorities and the girls. Since the women were too adamant to budge from the place, the club authorities had to shut down the practice.

Earlier this week, some middle-aged commuters travelling in a packed Kolkata Metro Railway coach forced a young couple to move out of the metro and even thrashed them at Dum Dum metro station for hugging inside the coach. The men accused the couple of polluting the atmosphere around.

It seems that moral policing has become a way of public life in the state.

Also:We See a Lot of Moral Policing but it’s Time to Police Trolls!