Indian official says it's harassment for man to stare at woman for 14 seconds

Senior Kerala IPS officer Rishi Raj Singh has caused uproar with his comment that if a man stares at a woman for 14 seconds he can be charged with harassment. Indian social users who found the comments rather hilarious have been trolling him on twitter via the hashtag #FreedomToLive #14seconds

Singh stated this while addressing a state-level empowerment programme for students at Kochi on Sunday. He also asked the girls and women to carry knife or pepper spray in their handbags for self-defence.

"Do you carry a knife or chilly or pepper spray in your bags? if you don't the time is long overdue for you to do so," he reportedly told the participants.

Martial arts is another option of self-defence for women, he added exhorting women to instantly react and inform the police if they were harassed by men. 

Reacting to Rishi Raj Singh, Sports minister EP Jayarajan termed the comments as "disgusting". He even said that he would ask the excise minister to examine the speech made by the IPS officer.

However there were some who came out in his support. 'What Rishiraj Singh told students shouldn't be a subject of trolling. His message, 'girls be proactive', is clear & you should be with him,' tweeted NS Madhavan, a Malayalam writer.

Source: The Times of India