Now a #MenToo movement to 'expose' harassment by women
Bengaluru, Oct 21: On the lines of #Metoo, a group of 15 people, including a former French diplomat acquitted in a sexual abuse case in 2017, has launched a #MenToo movement, asking men to come out and speak openly about the sexual harassment faced by them at the hands of women.
The campaign was launched here Saturday by NGO Children's Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (Crisp) to protest against the #Metoo movement, false cases aganist men among others.
Speaking on the occasion, National President of Crisp, Kumar V Jahgirdar said the group would fight for gender neutral laws and demand punishment for those filing false cases under #MeToo campaign.
Noting that #MeToo was a good movement, he however said it should not be misused to fix somebody by levelling false allegations.
"This movement has only resulted in bringing disrepute to men who have worked hard to earn respect in society," he said.
Later, talking to reporters, Jahgirdar said unlike #MeToo victims, who bring about sexual abuse stories that happened a couple of decades ago, the #MenToo stories would be related to recent incidents.
On #MeToo movement, Jahgirdar further said if the affected women have genuine case of sexual misbehaviour, they should take legal recourse, instead of putting out stories on social media.
Former French diplomat Pascal Mazurier, who was accused of sexually abusing his daughter and later acquitted by a city court in 2017 also took part in the protest.
He said #MenToo campaign was not at all a counter to #MeToo campaign, but to address the problems of men who do not speak up against women's atrocities.
"There is real pain among men.. They are also suffering, but they are not coming out in the open against women and their misdemeanors," he said.
The false allegations levelled on men in #MeToo campaign not only destroys children's future, but also families, Pascal noted.
"We make laws to protect women. That is fine, but let us not forget half of humanity are men," he added.
Pascal is facing a court battle after his wife had moved the Karnataka High Court challenging a city-based court's verdict acquitting him.
Pascal's wife has custody of their three children.
The #Me Too movement has gathered pace over the past few days with a number of women speaking out on sexual harassment at their workplace and support for them has been pouring in from various quarters.
Former Union Minister MJ Akbar, film personalities like Alok Nath, Subhash Ghai, Nana Patekar and Vairamuthu have been accused of sexual harassment by a number of women under the #MeToo movement.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
