Don't harass women, 'Operation Majnu' is here to take on you

Next time before you make any attempt at harassing a woman, you should think twice else you're in for trouble. This is what happened to two in their 20s who were following a woman in MP Nagar.

Next time before you make any attempt at harassing a woman walking alone, you should think twice else you're in for trouble.

And, this is what actually happened to two in their 20s who were following a well-clad woman in MP Nagar on Monday morning afoot.

Thinking that she's alone, they began to tag along with her hurling some indecent comments. As the woman did not react to their licentious conduct, the youths got emboldened.

When she entered a lane, hardly 100 meters away from Jyoti Cineplex, they got behind a stationary car in the parking area and made some offensive gestures at her and asked her to come near them.

However, when she turned around, they got the shock of their life: the woman was actually a female cop in civil dress to catch the molesters or 'Majnus'. Also, they came to know that she was part of 'Operation Majnus' launched by the city police to curb crime against women.

So, when they saw a large number of cops around, they got nervous and while one of them gave the police the slip, the other youth was caught.

Similarly, in another incident of harassment, a youth who was on his bike, was caught for hurling lewd remarks at a girl. On being caught, biker Anil Kumar said he was a shop owner at Jyoti Basement and said to the police, "Mujhe chhor do meri bahut beizzati ho jayegi (sir, please let me go as it would earn me a bad name in the area)."

Madhya Pradesh police's initiative, Operation Majnu, to curb sexual harassment began in unsafe areas and commercial areas of the city.

In fact, the state police took the decision to carry out 'Operation Majnu' for an infinite period after seeing the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) alarming data of sexual harassment cases.

In terms of incidents of crime against women, MP is on top with 8,252 cases of intent to outrage the modesty of women followed by 6,655 in Maharashtra. And as far as cases of abduction of women and girls are concerned, the state is leading with 2,873 cases.

Although 'Operation Majnu' is being carried out by female cops, some male members are also there on the team. The female cops in civil dresses hang around at public places and when a molester tries to harass any of them, they fought back and arrest the culprit.

In-charge of Operation Majnu, Renu Murab says, "The initiative is not new, as we had carried it out last year too and it had turned out to be a major deterrent in checking incidents of sexual harassment. During the last one week, we have caught over 36 people who tried to harass women, say female cops in civil."