@shibxni/InstagramA woman who was out celebrating her birthday made the quick decision to get her phone out and film the man who apparently tried to flash her as she stood at an ATM.
The incident was filmed at a State Bank of India vestibule in Mumbai, by a woman who had entered to withdraw money to pay for the taxi which was waiting outside.
The man reportedly offered to pay for the taxi, and ‘kept touching’ the woman, who was on her way back from celebrating her birthday.
The woman posted her footage on Twitter, wrote:
It’s 3 am when I’m typing this. A man just flashed me his dick in a fucking ATM! I had gotten down to withdraw money to pay the Rick and was I was facing problems and this guy offered to pay for it but he kept touching me, inside the ATM! I decided to record him and he… panicked.
Luckily there was a cop car, and I showed them the video and they followed him. I don’t know if they caught him, but this experience was so scary. It’s sick that a man felt that it was okay to flash me inside an atm where there are cameras! When is it going to stop?
The video has since been more than 1.2 million times.
@shibaxni/TwitterThe victim then reported the incident to the police, who arrested a 38-year-old suspect.
A spokesperson for the police, Pushkraj Suryavanshi, told The Sun:
When the woman approached the patrol van, assistant police inspector Bharat Jadhav and his team followed the perpetrator and arrested him.
Update: He has been caught and an FIR has been filed against him. Thank you everyone for such kind words and support. And thank you @MumbaiPolice for taking immediate action. :)
I really hope no one ever has to feel unsafe in a place they call home.— ☆SHIBANI☆ (@shibxni) May 12, 2019
The victim then visited the police station to register a formal complaint. The suspect is now reportedly facing two charges under the Indian Penal Code.
@shibxni/TwitterExplaining what happened in more detail on Instagram, the victim wrote:
Last night, I was coming home from bandra after a gig and I stopped the rickshaw at an ATM near my house. I enter the ATM and I’m frustrated when the machine won’t dispense money. This is the first time when the man enters the ATM and asks if I need help or want him to pay for the ride. I politely decline saying that I’ll manage.
Once I exit the ATM, I get into an argument with the rickshaw guy with regards to how I’ll be paying him the fare. This is when a cop car pulls up and I explain my situation to them.
@shibxni/InstagramShe continued:
5-10 mins after talking to the cops, I say that I’ll give the ATM another try. I’m once again at the ATM trying to withdraw money. And the man enters the ATM once again. But this time, he moves in closer and touches my shoulder and thigh, again asking if I need help. I instantly back off and yell at him to stay away from me and that I don’t need his help.
I go back to trying to withdraw money again, and he’s still there. When I hear him, he’s calling out to me and blatantly asking me to look at his hard dick that he had pulled out of his denim’s zipper area. I quietly start my video recorder and turn the camera right at him. That’s when he freaks out and runs out of the ATM. I run to the cop car and show them the video.
The man has apparently claimed he was drunk at the time, though the women plans on taking him to court to ‘make him pay for the way he made me feel’.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.