Daily Times

Bollywood actress and former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen opened up about being sexually harassed by a 15-year-old boy and has urged women to learn the basic self-defence moves in order to handle such incidents.

While addressing a press conference, Sen stated that there is a misconception among people that because the celebrities are surrounded by bodyguards they are not sexually harassed and they wouldn’t know what it actually feels like. She stated that despite being surrounded by 10 bodyguards, women still get harassed because at that point the celebrities are dealing with a huge crowd.

Sen recalled an incident at an awards function when a 15-year-old groped her. She said, “Six months ago at an award function, a 15-year old boy misbehaved with me as he thought I wouldn’t realise because of the crowd around. But, he was wrong. I felt it, I realised it and I grabbed him by his hand and was shocked to see what a young boy he was.” She further said that everyone must know the basics of self-defence so they can take charge of such an incident.

“Following the misbehaving, I grabbed him by the neck and took him for a walk in front of the entire crowd and media. I explained to him how his life would be ruined if I created a scene, which I didn’t. Instead, I made him realise his mistake.”

“He denied misbehaving with me but I sternly told him to acknowledge and accept his mistake, which he did and apologised for it and promised not to do such a thing again,” Sen added.

She added that it was understandable that a young boy who is not aware of these things needed to be taught, however, adult men, who commit heinous crimes like gang rape, should be hanged, so people know what it is like to face the consequence of sexual harassment.

Published in Daily Times, May 23^rd 2018.