Samyuktha Hegde files complaint against Kavitha Reddy for abuse and assault

On Friday evening, what seemed to be a fun outing to the neighbourhood park to practice her hula hoop, turned out to be a nightmare that Samyuktha Hegde never imagined possible. The actress and reality TV contestant was verbally assaulted and called names in public - all of which was captured on video. The abuse allegedly started when entrepreneur, influencer and activist Kavitha Reddy, objected to Samyuktha's athleisure outfit in the park.Kavitha was then joined by onlookers who abused Samyuktha and her friend. The video, which went viral, drew a lot of support for Samyuktha, both from people in her fraternity and outside. Everyone has been questioning how a cosmopolitan and progressive city like Bengaluru can still see incidents of moral policing.
Samyuktha, then, went to the nearby HSR Layout police station to file a complaint, but did not receive any acknowledgement and had to return empty handed. On Saturday, she consulted her legal team and has filed an FIR. "I am someone who does not let small things go. This is something big. I am going to fight this till the end, irrespective of what it takes to get justice," she told us.
On her social media page, Samyuktha wrote, "After being in a democracy and following all the norms of social distancing, we were abused and ridiculed by Kavitha Reddy and the mob in Agara Lake for practicing our hula hoop while wearing sportswear. Despite being polite and trying to solve the problem, the lady hit my friend and used disparaging remarks about me and my friends. (I) was extremely disappointed with how the police who came to the location behaved, like nothing was wrong and spoke to her with respect while asked us to be quiet. The cops stood there while her mob harassed us and even after requesting the police continuously, they decided to stand there and support this (sic)."
When we contacted Muni Reddy, the inspector of the HSR Layout police station, he told us, "We had the two of them in the station. When Samyuktha complained, we warned the offender and asked them to let the matter go instead of making it big and got them to compromise."
Image consultant Shreya Dhingra says that the video was disturbing to watch. "It's disappointing to see that a woman was the first one to object and comment on the issue. It is actually women who are putting other women down. This incident needs to be reported and spoken about and people need education. We need to educate people on what diversity and progressiveness means," she says.

Speaking during a live session with a news platform on Instagram, Kavitha Reddy said, “Every place has rules, including the park. We have received repeated complaints about people playing music and dancing here. In fact, at no point did I say anything about their clothes. I didn’t assault anyone. Tmhey started screaming and called me a b****y b***h. The entire episode was about her attitude and she was playing the victim. I had an issue because she misbehaved with the guards, who objected to her loud music. Public gathered once she started screaming. Only one side of the story is being heard. You see my pictures on Instagram. I also wear shorts, I am a modern woman. I didn’t moral police anyone. It was Samyuktha who said she would remove her shirt once police arrived and she did that. What was she trying to prove?”

"People of our generation will have heard this a lot. "Did you see how she was dressed?" "She was asking for it." And so by this logic, a girl wearing a sports bra is fully deserving of being brutally sexually assaulted, and if something happens to her, she has no right to complain (or come crying, because that's what girls do best right?) (sic)."
- Shraddha Srinath, actress
"This country and its people I love, But we are 100 years behind... and shutting up is NOT THE ANSWER TO START CHANGING THINGS. WAY TO GO @samyuktha_hegde I applaud your courage and am always with you in fighting for equal space for us women (sic)."
- Sruthi Hariharan, actress