A 26-year-old woman in Bengaluru did not walk away when a man allegedly asked her price outside her paying guest accommodation at 1.30 in the morning. She pulled out her phone, recorded him, and as the video went viral, he was arrested by the police.
The incident happened in Ramamurthy Nagar in the early hours of Monday. The woman, a private firm employee originally from Chikkamagaluru, was standing outside her PG when the accused, 42-year-old fruit seller Vijay Raghav of NRI Layout, allegedly stopped near her, stared, and then asked what her price was, offering Rs 10,000.
Her response, according to police, was to turn the question back on him and start filming.
What happened at 1.30am
According to a Times of India report, Raghav spotted the woman outside the PG and stared at her. She confronted him directly, asking, "Have you never seen a woman wearing shorts before?"
His alleged reply was to offer her Rs 10,000.
The moment she raised her phone to record, he got on his scooter and left.
That morning, she uploaded the video on social media. It spread quickly. Police contacted her and asked her to file a formal complaint. Raghav was arrested the same day.
The accused told a different story
Raghav told police he had stopped his scooter in the area to take a phone call after dropping a business partner. He said he glanced at the woman out of curiosity and that she was the one who spoke first, asking him, "Have you never seen a girl wearing shorts before?"
He admitted to the Rs 10,000 remark but said it was a reaction to being confronted, not an unprompted proposition.
Police were not moved by the distinction.
What police said
A senior officer told TOI plainly: regardless of what led up to the remark, asking a woman her price and offering money for it was an offence. The exchange before it did not change what the remark itself was.
Raghav has been booked accordingly.
(With TOI inputs)
