'Akangsha's hired an escort 2..'

The actor is scared of travelling alone at nights. TV actors tell BT how safe they feel in the city after the Gateway incident

GITA HARI

After the infamous incident of molestation of a woman on the New Year's eve at Gateway of India, the landmark of the megacity, one wonders how safe it is for a woman to go out in the night in Mumbai. On the same day, a couple from Sydney who were out enjoying the New Year revelry found the lady being molested by a mob. It doesn't end there as news of a constable being hauled up by the public for outraging the modesty of a young woman poured in. An American tourist complained of being molested while she was clicking pictures in the Prince of Wales Museum. The city seems to be infested with perverts and when the cops, whom one looks up to for protection, themselves are the perpetrators of this heinous crime, the safety of a woman in Mumbai is not just questionable but is certainly on the brink.
In such a dubious environment, the maximum city that boasts of being the safest place in the country, with a 24/7 life and late night parties, especially among the television world, where the shoots end way past normal working hours, how safe do television stars feel in Mumbai? When even leading silver screen heroine Bipasha Basu was not spared, have the telly beauties encountered any such physical assault themselves? How do they combat lewd eve-teasers and perverts?
An ex-Delhiite, Simple Kaul feels that Mumbai is definitely safer than other cities. About her personal experience, she narrates an incident, which took place a couple of years back, "When I was shooting for Yeh Meri Life Hai, one day I happened to travel by an auto. When it stopped at a traffic signal, a guy pinched me while passing by. As it was all of a sudden, I did not know who did it and I was so agitated that I got down. A 14-yearold boy started running when he saw me. I gave him a chase, shouting at him." Finally the actor caught up with the teenaged eve-teaser and bashed him up so badly that he was just short of bleeding. Simple sure can take care of herself. Shradha Nigam is a bit confused about the recent incident as she found the reports in two different newspapers to be contradictory. But she too had encountered one such incident when
she was in college as she relates, "I was boarding a train at Andheri station when a guy deliberately brushed past me. I jabbed him on the side and yelled at him. I would have loved to have him beaten up but he ran away in humiliation." Still, Shradha is of the opinion that of all the cities in our country, Mumbai is the safest.
The delicate and feminine Reena Kapoor of Woh Rehne Wali Mehelon Ki is mortally scared of hooligans and vagabonds, especially after the ordeal her friend went through as she reveals, "My friend went for her early morning walk, three guys misbehaved with her and when she threatened to hand them over to the police, one of the men slapped her and said he would rape her right then. She fell down and nobody came to her help in the broad daylight." Reena further adds, "Mumbai may not be worse than Delhi but it is heading towards it. Nowadays, when my husband goes to buy vegetables, I lock myself up in the car for fear of any untoward happenings."
One actor who begs to differ is Munisha Khatwani, according to whom, "The city is not completely unsafe. A girl shouldn't dress provocatively for it can tempt a man to misbehave. Though I have not experienced any such thing, I have seen it happen at clubs where a man pinches a lady's butt and goes. Such men need to be thrashed." The young and pretty Akangsha Rawat, Meera of Solhah Singarr on Sahara One, is a Delhiite who stays alone in this big bad metropolis. She has engaged the services of a 26-year-old man who reaches her home on those late night shoots, which in itself could be questionable. And she avers, "For the past two years I am in Mumbai and I feel it is definitely safer. The only thing is I stay alone and it is sometimes scary. I feel a positive vibe in Mumbai whereas in Delhi, I would be petrified to get back home at 2 am." And what about the credentials of this guy whom she has engaged? How can she trust him to drop her so late as he knows she has nobody to call her own in this city? "I have checked his credentials," says Rawat who feels it is better to be safe than sorry!