Actor Tillotama Shome shares note on women's safety after Juhu traffic signal incident

Bollywood actor Tillotama Shome has shared a note on Instagram about the constant fear women carry during everyday moments, following an incident she observed at a traffic signal in Mumbai's Juhu. She described seeing a young woman standing on a footpath leaning against a metal railing and using her phone. While noting that the woman looked relaxed, Shome admitted her own first instinct was to tell her to be more careful, and her anxiety grew when another man walked very close, though nothing offensive actually happened. Shome's note also connected this daily anxiety to broader safety concerns, mentioning a nightmare about hospital safety that followed a real-life case at Civil Hospital in Panipat where the National Human Rights Commission took cognisance of allegations that a 57-year-old woman was raped during a diagnostic test before dying. She reflected on her own past experiences travelling on public transport in Delhi for 17 years and referenced other recent crimes, including a minor being raped in New Delhi and students being harassed in Bihar. After sharing her thoughts online, Shome responded to a user who deleted his comment questioning her anxiety and suggesting she consult a doctor or ask the woman to sit in her car. Shome replied that anxiety is widespread and defended her background, noting she worked hard to earn her privilege after using public transport all her life until Covid. On the work front, Shome was recently seen in the Netflix courtroom drama Ikka, directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra and starring Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna.