The play halts vehicular movement near AG Square in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 6: Commuters halted for a while to see a young woman being stalked and molested by a youth in public at Sachivalaya Marg in front of the secretariat around noon today.

Though everybody was witnessing the crime, none came forward to help the woman who was abused by the youth.

This was, however, only a street play performed by some artistes in front of Jayadev Bhavan to depict the vulnerability of women in the state who have been facing such sexual harassment every now and then.

They even highlighted how the youths under 18, who are legally termed as juveniles and are thus spared from harsh punishments, are involved in many such crimes. Actor Sudarshan Biswal said that since the incidents of atrocities against women were increasing in the state, this was an effort to shake the conscience of the city residents.

“In the last year alone, many such incidents against the women have been witnessed. Be it the alleged gang rape and murder of a girl in Pipili or at Mahakalpara in Kendrapara or the recent case of setting afire a female school teacher as she brought allegations of sexual harassment against a sub-inspector of school, women are being targeted and exploited everywhere.

“This was an attempt by my group members to create awareness among city residents against such atrocities against women. We enacted the crime in the street so that people, who normally close their eyes when such incidents occur, react to it. Besides, in certain cases, we find juveniles involved in such crimes. But, they are shown leniency which does not seem justified,” said Biswal.

At the end of the street play, they demonstrated that the criminals were hanged by the victim.

However, the play raised many eyebrows because of its way of presentation. As the two male artistes stepped on the road out of nowhere, one of them dressed as a woman and the other started sexually abusing him openly, the indecent scenes shocked passers by. As commuters stopped on the road to see what appeared like a real incident, there was a traffic jam in front of the secretariat.

Though no one stepped in to check what’s happening, a member in the crowd informed the police and a police control room van rushed to the spot.

Since it is an important road with senior officials and the chief minister visiting the secretariat, the police immediately came to check what was happening. But when they came to know that it was a street play and not really a crime scene, they cleared the road and left the spot.

However, a police officer from Capital police station later reprimanded the artistes for organising the play without taking permission in an area where prohibitory orders have been clamped. They were warned not to organise such plays in future without obtaining permission.