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| Students of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, enact a street play in the capital. Telegraph picture |
Bhubaneswar, Aug. 19: A group of boys “teased” a young girl at Forum Mart here this morning as shoppers looked on.
A photographer rushed to the spot but did not more than capturing footage of the girl being “dragged around” and “assaulted”.
At the end of it, there was a rain of sighs, sympathy and even criticism for the victim.
This enactment of an incident in a woman’s life was part of a 20-minute gig by students of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.
The street play or nukkad naatak was staged to mark the World Humanitarian Day today.
“It was based on the recent Guwahati molestation incident in which a youngster was sexually assaulted outside a pub and none came to her rescue.
“Worse, most people put the blame on the girl, saying she was wearing provocative clothes,” said Bhaskar, a first-year student, who was the director and scriptwriter of the play titled Maanavta ki pukaar (the call of humanity).
The 14-member group also staged another short play Being Human in which people engrossed in different activities refuse help to a sick person.
The pharmacist refuses to give him a bottle of water and a policeman tends to look the other way, because he is busy attending to a minister.
Finally, a physically challenged man helps him.
“Our sole motive was to make people aware of their responsibilities.
“Most of the time, we intend to help but don’t because of some inhibitions.
“The play was received well and we hope that next time if there were a similar incident, people would know they couldn’t afford to be mute spectators.
“They must act and act responsibly,” said Shivalika, another student.
This was the first time that the XIMB students organised a street play.
“It underlines the motto of our institution ‘Connecting Business with Society’,” said Sumedha, who was also part of the nukkad naatak group.