Molested? Don't fume, fight back

A band of boys from Mumbai landed in New Delhi last week to participate in the Independence Rock concert. As they emerged from the airport they saw two women beating up a cab driver who had misbehaved with them. They knew they were in the right city.

This group has recently started an online forum to help victims of molestation, and was in Delhi to spread the word. Fight Back crystallised after the New Year's Eve incident outside J W Marriott Hotel in Juhu, where two young women were molested by a drunken mob. Busting the myth that men are unable to empathise with a women's issue, Fight Back was started by the male employees of Cell 18 led by Zubin Driver-though the campaign is a personal initiative.

Headquartered on its website, Fight-back.net offers guidance and motivates women to deal with abuse. Its Hall of Shame lampoons sexual offenders like constable Sunil More and Austrian native Joseph

Fritzl, who fathered several children by his own daughter. However, the Juhu molesters are conspicuous by their absence. Among the team that worked on the site is 22-year-old Dharmesh Gandhi. Heir to an Opera House business family, the HR College alumnus says molestation was never reported in his immediate environment . "This is one problem which people close their eyes to,'' he says. They seal their lips as well. Careful to prefix the expression "God forbid' ' when he refers to victims of sexual harassment, he says, "Women must rid themselves of the feelings of shame and guilt that arise after such episodes." He advises victims to vent their feelings and seek help, whether from the police, lawyers or counsellors.

At 21, Dharmesh has six years of social service behind him already. In fact he became restless after a full-time job forced him to relinquish the presidency of the Rotaract Club of Churchgate. "Throughout college, I had been working with blind children and underprivileged groups. I had to find some social cause to sink my teeth into, and my employer provided the fodder,'' he says.

The new recruit began a symbiotic relationship with Fight Back. He needed the adrenaline rush, they the resources he had gathered during his years with Rotaract. Dharmesh has devised a wallet card which is distributed to men and women across India . The card is a ready reckoner of police phone numbers that women can call to report an incident.

The distribution drive was inaugurated at CST and Churchgate in June. It passed the litmus test right away-hardly any of the commuters tossed away the card. "Men who were offered this card for their families accepted it readily,'' Dharmesh says.

Apart from visiting women's colleges like Sophia and SNDT to enlist support, Dharmesh has taken Fight Back to Facebook. "We have 1,600 members and counting,'' his friend Mayank Sen says.

Eight months since the drive began, Fight Back is taking steady steps towards consolidation . It has hitched a ride with the I-Rock travelling concerts which tie up their music with a social cause each year. Last week Dharmesh manned the Fight Back counter at Kolkata and Delhi, exhorting rock fans to sign a pledge. He has not unpacked his bags just yet for he will travel to Pune and Bangalore before returning home to Mumbai for the final I-Rock event on August 31.