On January 31, Malayalam actress Sanusha was travelling from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram by train. Around 1.10 am, she woke up to a rude shock. She felt a man’s finger on her mouth. She screamed immediately, but in a compartment full of passengers, only two came forward to help her – scriptwriter Unni R and a man named Ranjith.
“Unni sir alerted the TTR who called the police and the perpetrator was handed over to them,” Sanusha told Silverscreen. It was the actress who caught hold of the man’s finger and stopped him. He even begged her to not make an issue out of the incident.
The man, identified as Anto Bose from Tamil Nadu, is in police custody.
Lakhs of women who regularly use public transport will relate to Sanusha’s harrowing experience. In some cases, help is offered, but in most others, women are left to fend for themselves.
What disturbed Sanusha more was the public apathy. “The coach was full and I was screaming at the top of my lungs. You had to be deaf to not hear that. Even the women did not come forward to help,” she says. The actress added that the police was helpful and is following up the case.
At a time when movements like #MeToo and #Time’sUp are making headlines, and women are calling out their harassers and the misogyny they face, Sanusha says the ground reality is quite different. “All this is limited to social media, but when you need help in real life, no one is available. There has been no change in attitude. People would rather record videos than help,” she says.
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Sanusha adds there is no doubt that social media campaigns help create awareness, but public attitude needs to change. “When anyone faces this kind of a situation, it is the responsibility of others to help,” she says.
Sanusha started her acting as a child and has appeared in films such as Zachariayude Garbhinikal,and Kodiveeran.