(Trigger warning: This article contains description of sexual assault. Reader discretion advised) Actor Tillotama Shome, known for several widely acclaimed performances including as Alice in Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding and is currently receiving all the praise for her portrayal of chemistry teacher Pooja Agarwal in Netflix’s Kota Factory, has never minced her words or shied away from speaking her mind. In a recent interview, she courageously recalled a harrowing incident of sexual assault she experienced while living in Delhi. The incident, which had a profound impact on her, occurred on what seemed like a normal evening while she was waiting for a bus.
As darkness fell on a winter day, the Sir actor found herself at a bus stop when a group of men drove up in a car. Their aggressive behaviour quickly escalated to verbal and physical assault, including catcalls and even throwing a stone at her, creating a terrifying atmosphere. “I was standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus. Then a car came and stopped. Six guys got down from it,” she recounted during her recent appearance on Hauterrfly’s segment, The Male Feminist.
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“Then some catcall started. Somebody threw a small stone. I moved away a little bit more. Then I was like, ‘I have to go from here’. Now, if I run, they can outrun me. They’ll outnumber me,” she further said. In an attempt to escape the situation, Tillotama decided to hitchhike and stood in the middle of the road, trying to flag down a vehicle for a ride.
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Numerous vehicles, however, passed by without stopping. Finally, a car bearing a medical sign stopped in front of her, giving her a sense of relief, and she quickly got into the front seat. However, her relief was short-lived. The driver, rather than offering safety, attempted to assault the actor. In a moment of sheer terror and instinct, she fought back, forcing the driver to stop and flee. “I thought it might be safer since he was a doctor. I got in the car and sat in the front seat,” shared Tillotama, adding, “ We just moved a little bit. He took my hand and he unzipped his pants and I guess he wanted me to do whatever. The moment he forced my hand, it was like an instinct hit, like hitting out. I don’t know what I did, but he had to stop his car because something happened. He swerved, whatever. And he asked me to get out.” Tillotama was last seen in Netflix’s streaming series Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper, also starring Manav Kaul.
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