Kathmandu, March 11:

A woman in her 20s spat at a decent-looking man in a packed public bus plying on the Ring Road in Kathmandu today.The man did not dare to protest the woman’s act, but rather he just looked down in shame.

The woman, clad in tight-fitting sleeveless T-shirt and jeans, threatened to call her brothers there and take his life. The man finally got off at Vanasthali.

“The man bumped into me and put his hand around my bare waist. I repeatedly asked him to remove his hand but he further pressed me from behind. I lost my patience and spat at him,” the woman said, when this scribe asked her what had happened.

She is not the only woman who gets sexually harassed in public vehicles. Many women and teenagers using public transport often face different forms of sexual harassment. But most of the cases go unreported.

Public vehicles in the Valley are usually overcrowded, providing the molesters with ample opportunities to get satisfaction of some sorts.

Women blame the increasing cases of sexual harassment in public vehicles to the vehicles, which always carry passengers packed like sardines. Tens of thousands of people use public vehicles daily in the Valley.

“Public vehicles should not carry passengers beyond their capacity,” said Sanu Rana (24), who was travelling in a jam-packed bus operated by Nepal Yatayat.

She said, “I never had the opportunity of travelling without any hassle. It is unfortunate that some men try to take us otherwise. They tend to extend their hands and touch our body parts. But I have never objected to their advances so far for the fear of reprisal.”

Another passenger Subash Shrestha ‘Dukhi’ (30), however, said the girls and women themselves were to be blamed for such cases.

“Their choice for tight-fitting and scanty clothes arouse men for sexual advances,” he said.

Existing laws define sexual assault as any form of sexual contact or activity like touching, tapping, expressing four-letter word and showing sexually explicit pictures or movies without one’s consent.

Sexual harassment can happen to both men and women and it is an infringement on one’s indiv-idual rights.

Women rights activist Dr Gyanu Pandey described the incidents of sexual harassment as violence against women.