[ot-caption title=”Members of the Swadhyaya Parivar, or self-awareness community, listen to their Spiritual Leader during the Women Self Development Meet 2004 in Ahmadabad, India. (AP Photo/ Pankaj Nangia)” url=”https://pcpawprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/GetBinary-3.ashx_.jpeg”]

In a world in which women are never 100% safe  when it comes to rape culture and sexual harassment, there are countries that are barely even close to fighting rape and violence, including India. Although India is not the worst when it comes to rape culture, it is certainly close with a 7.1 percent rise in crimes against women since 2010. Fortunately, however, a new generation of young Indian women has been ruthlessly trying to battle the daily oppression including Pradnya Mandhare, twenty years old, who single-handedly fought off a man who attacked her and took him to the police station.

Mandhare, a media studies student at Sathaye College in Mumbai, was walking home after her lectures when drug addict and alcoholic Chavan Chowdee, twenty-five years old, attacked her at Kandivli Station at 2:30 in the afternoon, with around fifty onlookers present. With the large number of people at the station, Mandhare believed that someone would help her, but she was shocked to find that not one person offered to help. She stated, “He tried to hit me back and he really stunk of alcohol, but I was determined not to let him get away with it. I know that women don’t like to complain to the police but I was determined to make sure he was punished.” Mandhare proceeded to grab the attacker’s hair and drag him to the police station without help. Police confirmed that Chowdee was arrested and is now awaiting charges over the attack.

In a culture in which women are afraid of standing up against sexual harassment and rape, one in which marital rape is the most common crime against women, and society often discourages women from speaking up against abuse, Mandhare’s action is very significant. She stated, “Parents of girls also think that going to a police station would tarnish their daughter’s reputation. But, women should raise their voice and teach such people a lesson. Women are not objects for anyone to touch at will.”

Mandhare’s actions have encouraged other women all around the world to be courageous and ruthless by not allowing men to treat them as inferiors in a world rampant with gender inequality. She has taught women, especially those in India, that despite what anyone else says, women should always fight back against abuse instead of keeping quiet and view themselves as strong, capable, and courageous people. To a young woman in India and in other places around the world, this idea speaks volumes.

Sources: MORE, DailyMail