- 7 minutes ago
A panel discussion examines the alarming incident on Gurugram's Golf Course Road where a car struck a woman biker, raising serious concerns over road safety, civic infrastructure, and police accountability. Screenwriter Advaita Kala, world motorcyclist Maral Yazarloo, and retired Major General Sanjay debate the pattern of road harassment and toxic masculinity faced by commuters. Discussing the lack of stringent police action and the trust deficit felt by citizens, Kala stated, 'If you look at the video, even as a layperson, this driver has used his vehicle like a weapon.' The panellists highlighted recurring civic problems across Gurugram and demanded decisive accountability from the administration.
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00:03That's supposed to be the defence of Mr. Kalyan, who's out there saying that I was trying to tell her
00:08that you're driving very well.
00:10That's what his gestures meant and that he was going to say that, OK, please stay in your lane, whatever
00:16that's supposed to mean.
00:17But amazing that he's on record. He's speaking about this on camera.
00:21But these statements should have been made in front of the Gurugram police.
00:26The police commissioner should come out and make a statement and tell us if this place is safe for women
00:31bikers or not.
00:32He should come out and make a statement and tell us if a parking lot is safe for even a
00:37war veteran, let alone any other citizen altogether.
00:40So what exactly is going on in this maximum city?
00:43What exactly is going on in this millennial city?
00:47But like I said, a city which has the prices of a first world country, but has issues of a
00:54third world country.
00:54And we are just not being able to resolve it.
00:57It could be issues of sanitation.
00:59It could be issues of bad air, bad water, bad traffic.
01:03And now this crime added to that story.
01:06With that, I'm welcoming our guests on the program today.
01:10Joining us is Marilya Zulu.
01:12She's a biker herself and has a perspective or two on how exactly it works.
01:17And what does it mean to be a woman biker in the country today on one of the most expensive
01:21roads of the country?
01:22We have with us Sadweta Kala, screenwriter and author.
01:26And also with us is retired meter general Sanjay Visto.
01:29He's a defense expert.
01:30Let me come to Maral first.
01:34Is this an isolated incident and has this shocked you?
01:38Or do you think, if not on Gulf Coast Road and several other roads where women bikers do go, stories
01:45like these are plenty?
01:49Hi, hello, everyone.
01:51You know, I'm very disturbed after hearing what Kalyan had to say and what excuses he's bringing.
01:58And I have to tell you all that this is the incident that she was lucky enough to record it
02:04on her video, like on her GoPro and 360 or whatever that she was using in that moment.
02:11This is an incident we face all the time on the road.
02:16People come to us, people trying to stop us, people get too close to us and they want to have
02:22a reaction from us.
02:24And I've been riding for 16 years in India, most of the road here and abroad as well.
02:33We are talking now about Delhi and India, I have to say, I face that in some other countries as
02:38well.
02:39But here, when something like that happened, the guy had an audacity to come back and say he just wanted
02:47to come and give the warning or get close.
02:49And you see it in the video clearly, she was in her own lane.
02:54It wasn't like that, that she was moving or speeding up or doing anything else.
02:59But when I was coming back from Ladakh a couple of days ago, I've been chased by a car and
03:05I recorded on my GoPro as well.
03:07But you know what was the problem?
03:09The SUV who was chasing me had no number plate.
03:13And when something like this happened, how you want to find the person?
03:17How the car without the number plate was on a road in Delhi around 12, 13 afternoon.
03:25How no police, no camera, nobody stopped that car.
03:29If anything happened to me, how you could find that car?
03:34But why do you think this happens?
03:36Why do you think cars are chasing?
03:37Is it just because you're a woman on a bike?
03:41Majorly is a male ego.
03:44Majorly is the guy come get close and start talking and ask a woman to stop or get the photo.
03:50And then she wasn't responding to it or most likely she was telling her to go away and keep repeating.
03:57And then it just hurting his ego.
03:59And he wanted to say, I will show you.
04:01I don't know what kind of a person that guy is.
04:04Maybe he was trying to just scare her.
04:06But then he miscalculate and really touch her.
04:10Because what you see in the video, he actually gone for her.
04:14She could lose her life.
04:17Because she wasn't fully geared.
04:19She has a helmet and she has a riding boot.
04:21But she's not wearing a riding jacket, riding pants.
04:24And with that speed, you go down like that.
04:27I mean, it could take her only breaking her neck.
04:30This is a very serious matter.
04:33Because we are losing so many riders on the road.
04:36And not all the time is riders' fault.
04:39And this guy, he's coming back and he's saying that wasn't his fault.
04:45It shows his character.
04:47Yeah, it does.
04:48Mislou, help me understand this.
04:52When a story like this unfolds, you're seeing there's a pattern of women riders being chased, being questioned.
04:59Something of an attraction point if they are on the road by these male, you know, riders or male, you
05:08know, car drivers.
05:09Do you think this story has hit a raw nerve even more?
05:13Because this did happen in the back of Beyond or like you said on Leh, which is said to be
05:18so famous for bike riding.
05:19But in Gurugram, in the heart of the country, in one of the most expensive roads in the country, it
05:30happened there.
05:32Absolutely.
05:33And you know what?
05:33When you see this video, you think twice to get back on a motorcycle and get back on the road.
05:40And that's in the daylight.
05:42That's not even early morning or late at night.
05:47And this is really scary.
05:49And one more thing.
05:50Now we captured this one on a, you know, lady on a motorcycle.
05:54A couple of months ago, there were a bunch of riders coming back from a Sunday ride.
05:59And then that was an argument between the SUV and this rider.
06:04I don't know.
06:04Somebody went faster.
06:05Somebody went, I mean, slower.
06:07And somebody just gave the sign to a stop.
06:09I have to go first.
06:11These guys got out of the SUV with the cricket bat.
06:16But they beat these riders.
06:19They broke their helmet.
06:20They broke the entire bike.
06:22And the guy was screaming.
06:24And nobody dared to get close by.
06:27Because there were two, three guys with bats.
06:30You know, the cricket bat.
06:31And they were really beating them up.
06:33And that was exactly in the same area and the same location, too.
06:38My question is, maybe we need to tighten the rules.
06:43Maybe we need to come up with a very, very clear rule.
06:47Because there are motorcycles who go really fast, who are not following the rules.
06:53And not all the time when you see someone on a motorcycle, they are in fault.
06:58I mean, I ride a motorcycle.
06:59The other incident that you've mentioned needs, we don't have verification on that story.
07:04But I'm going to take your word for that for now.
07:06But you're saying that this is a general practice.
07:09And on Golf Course Road, this is a general practice, which is just blowing my mind right now.
07:13Because Advaita Kala, make sense of me.
07:16Make sense of this entire story for me.
07:18Or just make sense of Guru Gram for me.
07:20What is the sense of paying 50,000 rupees per square foot for behavior like this?
07:28For roads flooding, for kids being stuck in a school bus, for cars being chock-o-block.
07:35What is the point of having a six-figure, seven-figure salary when this is the behavior that you get?
07:40And why is it that people who live in this area, who have all the resources at their disposal,
07:46they don't raise this question with the authorities?
07:48What's the problem?
07:50I think they do, but I'm not sure if they get a response back from it.
07:53That question is for Advaita Kala, please.
07:55I'll just let her respond, please.
07:57Yes, I mean, Solal, you're absolutely right.
07:59I live in Gurgaon.
08:01It's not like these points are not raised.
08:02They're raised constantly.
08:03They're highlighted on social media.
08:06Articles are written.
08:07But there is this kind of numbness in the administration,
08:10which refuses to respond.
08:12And frankly, you know, Gurgaon has revealed itself for what it is.
08:17It's a veneer.
08:18It's a veneer.
08:19It's all for show.
08:21Fancy buildings, golf course road.
08:23You know the road right parallel to the golf course road is a garbage dump.
08:29Right parallel.
08:30So you know what's going on here is that they have this arterial road
08:33that they want to showcase to the world, to everybody.
08:37But right next door to it, it's a garbage dump.
08:40Now, this is the kind of hypocrisy that the administration is putting forward,
08:45be it monsoons.
08:47I mean, we can make as many jokes as we want because we're stuck.
08:50We can say, oh, Gurgaon is Venice today.
08:52But the bottom line is that there are people who get electrocuted in those
08:56flooded waters and lose their lives.
08:59Everyday people going to work.
09:01We've had those incidents.
09:03And the administration is just completely quiet.
09:06Even on this instance, you know this road.
09:09And let me be clear, there are bikers who drive very fast on golf course road.
09:13There are car drivers who drive very fast on a golf course road.
09:17This happens all the time.
09:19It's like there's an unofficial drag race that goes on on that road.
09:22That's what it's used for.
09:24I'm not saying that's what happened in this case, but this is the norm.
09:28But my question is, where are the cops?
09:30They're nowhere to be seen.
09:32Nowhere.
09:33You cannot approach them.
09:34You don't know where they are.
09:35I think it's so telling that this young lady has not filed an official complaint to the cops.
09:41It just tells you the kind of trust deficit that there is with the Gurgaon police.
09:46And they have to acknowledge that.
09:47They may take some auto-cognizance of it now.
09:50But the bottom line is that this video was shot.
09:53It went viral.
09:54And the girl still doesn't have the courage to complain,
09:58to reveal herself, her identity.
10:00And there is toxic masculinity in the streets.
10:03Absolutely.
10:04Gurgaon and Delhi are first cousins when it comes to that.
10:07It does exist on the street.
10:09Can I just say, Noida, Faridabad, none of that is any different.
10:12But what's shocking me is that Gurgaon was built on the premise that it's going to be different.
10:16It was built on the premise that, you know, people, expats are going to come and stay there.
10:20We're going to have that kind of, you know, millennium city.
10:23We're going to have that, you know, maximumness to it.
10:25We'll give you that infrastructure as well that you'll forget that you live in India at all.
10:30And that's the, you know, that's the dream which has been sold,
10:32which I think is a big, big lie.
10:34But let me bring in General Sanjay on this point.
10:37And General Sanjay, do you think the government at this point needs to spend more time,
10:43instead of changing names of cities, Gurgaon, Gurgaon becoming Gurugram,
10:48instead of, you know, changing names of the roads,
10:51what they really need to change is people's attitudes,
10:53get some fear of the law,
10:56get the officials and charge the officials who are not acting in cases like these.
11:01What about the, you know, thousands of CCTV cameras which are there
11:04and still not enough to even get down to curbing or nabbing one guy?
11:11Yeah, so there's very pertinent issues you have raised.
11:14If I have to sum up Gurgaon,
11:16it is pathetic is the word
11:18and I keep coming a number of times to Delhi and Noida for the TV show that
11:24let me tell you, Noida and Delhi are much better.
11:29Gurgaon is pathetic and everything is going from bad to worse.
11:33Now, I will just tell you certain grounds here.
11:35Let me just say myself in Gurgaon.
11:39Firstly, large number of wine shops have come up on the expressway they're riding.
11:45And I think the lady has made a statement, the bikers,
11:50you know, that they were drunk.
11:51Now, we cannot prove that whether they were drunk or not.
11:54But the fact of the matter is,
11:56every year, every year,
11:58in fact, I would say some places within 200, 300 meters.
12:01And not only that,
12:04these wine shops have come up in such huge numbers,
12:07best decorated.
12:09And,
12:10you know, the whole problem is,
12:11they are on expressway.
12:13And believe it's on Dwarka.
12:14Yeah, but sir,
12:15I'm not sure if removing the wine shops really solves problems like these.
12:18No, no.
12:19I'm not sure if it solves.
12:20I don't know if the two are related at all.
12:22What I'm really aghast by is the fact that
12:25there has to be a certain responsibility of Gurugram residents as well.
12:29Which is why I'm asking both of you over here,
12:31there has to be a certain responsibility.
12:33You guys have to ask tougher questions.
12:35In fact, there are more updates coming in on the story.
12:37Let me take our viewers quickly through that.
12:39Inder today has actually accessed the hit and run,
12:41the FIR over there.
12:43And that says that Suho Motor case has been filed by Gurugram police.
12:47Case has been filed against unknown person as well.
12:49But what is this unknown person?
12:51The person is on camera giving you sound bites,
12:54defending his case,
12:55available to reporters.
12:56Very happy to come in front of the camera and saying,
12:58I need to say this.
12:59And what is this unknown person?
13:02Shouldn't the Gurugram police have really got down to the matter?
13:05The commissioner should have come on record to say,
13:06listen, this happened,
13:07we are ashamed and we are going to fix it up.
13:10We are going to make the city safe for women,
13:12safe for women riders,
13:14safe for veterans,
13:14safe for human beings.
13:17And so should, you know,
13:19the other issues in Gurugram which come under the local civic body there.
13:24But shocking that Gurugram police is really coming out at this point to say that the case has been filed.
13:29We don't want the case.
13:30We want fixed accountability.
13:34Let me quickly go to,
13:35let me quickly go to Adweta Akala on this one as well.
13:39Adweta,
13:40does it really solve the purpose?
13:41Gurugram police saying,
13:42humne apna kam kar dee,
13:44humne suor motor cognizance lia,
13:45humne video dekha,
13:46because you were tagged on X for it.
13:49And now an FIR has been registered.
13:51We'll do an inquiry.
13:52Is this what we will live with?
13:54I mean,
13:55look at the charges they've filed.
13:57Negligent driving.
13:58If you look at the video,
13:59even as a layperson,
14:00this driver has used his vehicle like a weapon.
14:04She's in her lane.
14:05She's driving on her path.
14:06He's crossed over the lines and he's struck her.
14:10So what is that car other than a weapon?
14:13That's what it is.
14:14So I don't understand what kind of really,
14:16really accusations or charges are they filing in their FIRs.
14:20If they do not come down hard on this kind of behavior,
14:24it will be repeated.
14:25I've experienced something like this.
14:27Luckily,
14:27I was in a car,
14:28but some of these men threw stones at me.
14:31And I remember socially,
14:32I met a top cop a couple of months later.
14:36And I asked him,
14:37I said,
14:37you know,
14:37this happened with me.
14:38And he says,
14:39ma'am,
14:39you know,
14:39if this happens to you in Gurgaon,
14:41just even if it's not your fault and it's on the streets,
14:45just,
14:45you know,
14:46make a way,
14:47like just go away because these things can flare up into
14:50group conflicts.
14:51So there is that pressure on the administration as well,
14:54because some of the communities here do operate like a group
14:58and they do turn up when these kinds of situations arise.
15:01So I understand the political sensitivities of this,
15:04but the bottom line is when it's there on videotape,
15:08you have to do something.
15:09You cannot just wait for him to go on TV and declare his innocence
15:14when you've not even,
15:16you know,
15:17identified him as the guilty party.
15:20And as for what the general...
15:21I want to take it a step further.
15:22I want to take it a step further to say that she's lucky that she had a GoPro.
15:26What if she didn't?
15:28So a person who does not have that camera,
15:30how is she supposed to prove her innocence,
15:32like Ms. Lu was saying?
15:33How is one supposed to prove what happened?
15:35Because clearly the CCTV is there and going to take years to even fetch
15:39before we can even get down to understanding what really happened.
15:42Just the pace of work is so bad.
15:45Like I said,
15:46third world problems in a city that claims to be a first world city.
15:50But let me take that question back to Ms. Yazur.
15:56Ms. Yazur,
15:57talk to me a little bit about,
15:59you know,
16:00so much has changed in the biking world.
16:03If I were to ask you this question not very long ago,
16:06the bikers had a very bad rep,
16:08right?
16:08It came from the American movies,
16:11all of that.
16:12Here,
16:13the narrative is turned all together.
16:15In India,
16:16biking culture is thriving.
16:18It is growing.
16:19I see weekend after weekend,
16:20I'm seeing it in front of my eyes everywhere,
16:23where groups are found.
16:24It's like a community.
16:25And a lot of it has got to do with working professionals.
16:28It could be people who find like some joy in it.
16:32I'm sure you understand it better than I do.
16:34At the moment,
16:35what is it that's required by bikers like you?
16:38If the government is watching right now,
16:40could you offer them a few suggestions on what is the immediate need of the hour
16:45when it comes specifically to women bikers?
16:51I've been riding an Indian road for the last 16 years.
16:54Okay.
16:55And I have to tell you,
16:57in any other sport or any other part of the society,
17:01there are a couple of riders who break the rules,
17:04go extremely fast,
17:06and create issues on the road.
17:07And not everybody are the same.
17:10I've been riding not only in India,
17:12I cross like over 64 countries in one trip.
17:15And the most important thing is I have to come back home safe.
17:19I'm a mother and I'm a wife.
17:22And if I see this kind of incident on the road,
17:25what is the guarantee that next is not going to be me?
17:28What I need from a government,
17:30what I need from people in power is the most important,
17:35please do not take this lightly.
17:38Please do not let this slip out of your hand
17:42because if one example is going to,
17:46this guy who did something like that,
17:49if he, what he going to go through,
17:52it's not going to be only apology to this lady.
17:55It's going to be really, really, you know,
17:59the punishment for this kind of thing.
18:02Absolutely.
18:03Yes, that's the right word.
18:04And for the rule on the road,
18:08I mean, I'm not saying if bikers are not following the rule
18:12and they're doing something,
18:14yes, they catch them too.
18:16But make sure if the biker is a safe biker
18:20and they're using the motorbike as a commute
18:24or a long distance riding or is in a path,
18:28it's not all the time the biker issues.
18:30When you pull us over,
18:31just please hear us as well.
18:34Because when the car hits us like that,
18:37we don't have anything to protect us.
18:39We are not in a metal cover.
18:42And for women, please,
18:44if you see a woman rider comes to you,
18:47hear her out.
18:48Because sometimes I agree with a lady
18:50who was just saying when there is an issue,
18:53they tell just like, you know,
18:55close your eyes, forget it.
18:56I understand why she doesn't want to reveal her identity.
19:00I understand why she's so scared of that.
19:03Yeah.
19:03Because if what if she wants to...
19:04I totally understand it.
19:05And totally, even if you don't want to tell her father,
19:07I don't know why this shouldn't,
19:08I hope doesn't become an issue
19:10where we are told,
19:10oh, she was hiding her identity.
19:11So must be something,
19:13you know, must be hiding something.
19:15It's not that.
19:15Some people want their privacy.
19:17And I think that's what she's doing.
19:19Regardless of that,
19:20the police should be getting down
19:21to finding what the real issue here is.
19:24I'm sorry I'm running out of time,
19:25but thank you all three of you
19:26for joining us on this very important debate.
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