Letter written by a Bollywood actress and former
television host appealing to India's "most powerful men" to help stop
rape has gone viral.
Shenaz Treasurywala's letter is
addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, top Bollywood stars, cricketer
Sachin Tendulkar,stars Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and businessman Anil Ambani.
It describes instances of harassment
she and others have faced in Mumbai.
The letter came after an Uber taxi driver was accused of raping a passenger in the capital, Delhi. The 27-year-old
woman had used the Uber smartphone app to book a taxi home on Friday night but
said she was taken to a secluded area and raped. The driver of the web-based
taxi service has been arrested and remanded in custody.
Shenaz was well known as anchor in MTV program, & has worked in half a dozen Bollywood films, including in Delhi Belly, Ishq
Vishq , Hum Tum and Luv Ka The End. She also acted in the American soap One
Life to Live.
Shenaz Treasurywala's addresses "Dear Narendra Modi,
[Bollywood superstar] Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, [stars] Shahrukh
Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and [businessman] Anil Ambani" because
"you are the most powerful and influential men in the country".
Shenaz says when a woman is groped or
assaulted it is "not her shame", but it is the shame of the "men
in our country".
Shenaz Treasurywala's writes "The men are not just
the rapists and the sexual offenders and gropers but also our fathers, uncles, brothers, movie stars, cricketers and politicians for not saving us or
protecting us by insisting and protesting for the laws to change and rapists and
gropers to be punished severely."
Insisting
that the safety of women is the "number one issue" in India, Shenaz appeals to the prime minister to "fix this before anything else".
"What good are all your speeches
in the US or Japan or Australia - Narendra Modi, if no woman can walk freely in
the streets even in broad daylight by herself in the capital of our country.
Isn't this a shame? Shame on you sir," she writes.
The letter has been covered
extensively by the Indian media and shared extensively on social media sites
like Facebook and Twitter, with many like praising her.
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