Kangana Ranaut’s reality show Lock Upp: Badass Jail Atyaachaari Khel is slowly reaching its final stage. Recently, Indian Stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui spoke to her about a traumatic incident recalling facing sexual harassment as a child.
Munawar recalled the incident from his childhood, “Maine yeh cheezein kabhi kisise share nahi kari kyunki (I’ve never shared it with anyone because) I have to face them. I was a 6-year-old.. yeh aisa tha ki (it was such that)..bahut close family hoti hai aur kabhi kabhi (there’s close family and sometimes)…” Saisha Shinde was left in tears, and Prince Narula later hugged him.
“Mujhe us waqt nahi samajh aata tha aur 4-5 saal tak woh continuously chalta raha…chauthe saal woh cheezein ek baar bahut extreme hogai (I didn’t understand then and it continued for four-five years. It turned extreme in the fourth year).” The contestants were left in tears and gathered around to hug him.
Kangana empathised with his story and said, “So many kids go through this every year but we avoid talking about it on public platforms. All of us go through this, all of us have been inappropriately touched at some point. I have faced this. I was a child and a young boy from our town used to inappropriately touch me. At the time, I did not know what it meant, no matter how protective your family is, all kids go through this.”
She added, “Another point is that you are made to feel guilty for it. This is a huge crisis for kids in our society. To tell them the difference between good and bad touch may not be enough. It becomes such a huge crisis. Kids are psychologically traumatised and scarred for life. They face endless troubles in life. This guy was three to four years elder than me, perhaps he was exploring his sexuality. He would call us, get us all to strip and check us. We would not understand it at the time. There is a huge stigma behind this, especially for men. It is very brave of you, Munawar, that you chose this platform to share your experience.”
