The wink that cost a man his Mercedes Benz: Video of woman punishing an SP leader goes viral

What’s the best way to deal with an eve-teaser? By going on a counter-offensive of course.

After being winked at by the security gunner of a Samajwadi Party functionary, Abhinav Sharma, a 23-year-old woman, identified as 23-year-old Sadhvi Pandey,  jumped on the Mercedes, tore the party flag on the car’s bonnet and smashed the windshield.

The woman then challenged the guard to face her. She created quite the storm, causing a huge mob to gather around the car.

According to this Times of India report , eyewitnesses claim the girl was going to visit a doctor with her sister on a scooty when the incident occurred. Sharma remained in the car, but his guards came out to speak to the woman.

During the scuffle, a guard took her phone and smashed on the ground, as it contained a photo of the winker.

Eyewitnesses also added that instead of taking the Samajwadi Party leader and his security personnel to task, the police insisted that the lady accompany the police to the police station to give a written complaint. She, however, refused, PTI quoted them as saying.

The matter was later resolved after an hour long debate, when the woman was paid Rs. 6,500 for her damaged handset. The video, however, has gone viral on social media, with people applauding the woman’s reaction.

Talking about the incident, Sadhvi told PTI, “His father (Abhinav’s) came….He apologised and paid us money for the damages. Neither do we want to insult them or any party, we have no issues. What they did, they got the result and what the guard did, he was repaid.”

“There was no bravery in my act. You could have also reacted in the same manner if anything you had purchased with your hard earned money had broken. Had they not broken my mobile and had taken action against the guard, we would not have gone so extreme,” she added.

Asked about the role of the police in the incident, she said. “I don’t trust UP police at all. When I told them what happened they said they can’t do anything,” she claimed.

Reacting to the incident, SP’s Naresh Aggarwal said, “Abhinav Sharma is not leader of SP. This is a fashion in Uttar Pradesh, people generally carry the flag of the ruling party”. Sharma, whose car was damaged in the incident, said he has fired the gunman.

“If she would have at least once told me that my gunner had made a lewd gesture, I would have beaten up the gunner at the same time. But as soon as I tried to talk to her, she broke my chain, she started damaging my car. What could I have done at that time. Should I have fought with Sadhvi. She just damaged my car,” he told PTI.

“Sadhvi damaged his car without any reason. For no reason, she ruined my spotless reputation. I have fired my gunman although he was saying while crying that ‘sir I had just asked for a side and nothing,” he added.

This isn’t the first case of Samajwadi Party members being in the limelight for their misogynistic comments or actions surrounding women and harassment.

According to this earlier Firstpost op-ed , SP party member Ram Gopal Yadav, while attacking the anti-rape bill and calling it anti-women, had said that “Employers will worry about recruiting women,” as if to imply that the responsibility of sexual violence and harassment lies with the woman.

Of course, we can’t forget the shocking words of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The party’s attitude towards women and sexual violence can be summed up with Yadav’s famous comments on being opposed to capital punishment for rape . “Boys will be boys…they commit mistakes.”

Well, this 23-year-old has clearly had enough of these boys.

With inputs from PTI