Eve teasing, also called as street harassment, is becoming more and more common phenomenon in South Asia. The social disaster is at its worst mainly in Bangladesh, followed by India and Pakistan. Unfortunately, the streets of Nepal too have been becoming unsafe for the women lately with a number of incidents taking place in the major cities.

One such incident of street harassment was turned into something completely different by a brave 20-year-old girl in Kathmandu on Wednesday. Nisha Bhatta was heading to her home yesterday evening on her scooter when two guys who too were riding a scooter started teasing her. They were not only starring at her in very inappropriate way throughout their ride from Durbarmarg to Sorakhutte but were also abusing her verbally. The undergraduate Social Sciences student at National College was so pissed off with their behavior that she was looking for a chance to teach those perverts a lesson when finally all the vehicles were stopped on a diversion lane on Sorakhutte Chawk and she did what she had been wanting to do ever since the two boys started harassing her. She went straight to them and slapped the pillion.

The traffic cop nearby came to them to inspect on what was going on when he noticed the three of them in thatsituation. She told him about everything that had happened and he was about to have them sent to the police station when the boys started apologizing. One of them told her that he is an IT student and his exams are near. When they kept on apologizing and promised that they will never repeat such action ever, she let them go.

However, when she returned home and told her mother about everything; it was her turn to be scolded as her mother didn’t like her getting into all that mess and advised she should have just let it go because the boys might harm her in future. Well, that’s the thing, you see. Nepali girls have always been taught by their parents and elders to just ignore such people because they might be dangerous and that is the very reason these perverts are more motivated to repeat such actions as they are not afraid of anyone. They know that nobody will be standing against them even if they harass a girl in a crowded place in the daylight.

Standing up against such people and their actions is the first step towards bringing some positive changes. That of course doesn’t mean that you have to put yourself in a dangerous situation. Make sure that you’re not alone and there are many people around you when you take some action against such people. Your safety comes first and that’s why you have to be careful while you try and handle such situations.

We talked to Nisha about the incident and asked her if it was her first experience of such harassment. “I had encountered a similar situation in 2010 as well when I was studying in grade 10. There was a group of boys who used to tease me and I had complained about them and even had a guy locked up. They got so terrified that they were not seen in that place after that”, she told us.

On being asked what she thinks about Nepali girls always being instructed by their elders to ignore such eve teasers as they might be dangerous. She answered, “We are taught to compromise, accept and tolerate such situations but I really don’t think that’s fair in any way. I idolize Anuradha Koirala, Taslima Nasarin and Betty Friedan; and one thing that I have learned from them is to be fierce as fire and calm as water according to the situations you have to face.”

“I can’t let a man stare at my thighs just because he wants to. It makes me feel like an object which I am definitely not. My elders might fear of consequences if I get into such situations but ignorance is not the solution and we have to take actions when we have to.”

She also told us about her association with an organization called Ujyalo Foundation that has developed a smartphone app ‘Nidarr’ that helps women report such incidents and also get help when needed. It can be downloaded from HERE.

Well, we’re extremely inspired by Nisha and we’re proud of her. Also an aspiring rapper who had performed in Women In Concert last year, she appeals other girls too to stand up for themselves and try to handle such situations according to the need.

You go, girl!

Here’s the original Facebook post that she had written after the incident took place.