January 22, 2025

Two unrelated news items throw up a lot of questions about Indian society. In the first, Arun Marwaha, an Air Force officer due to retire in a year, was arrested on charges of espionage. The second news reported that marketing guru and startup investor Mahesh Murthy was arrested by the Mumbai police for sexually harassing a Delhi woman entrepreneur. Both these men were in their fifties and fell prey to their sexual cravings.

Marwaha was befriended by two ISI agents on the social media. As is the standard operating procedure in the world of espionage, both the agents posed as sexually attractive women complete with alluring pictures in their profile. They led him on till a stage when he began to salivate and like strip poker, they kept feeding him with pictures in various stages of undress. Later, when they wanted information from him, it turned hardcore, but still in social media and on WhatsApp. There is no evidence of personal contact. Marwaha is reported to have given them information on new agencies in cyber warfare, space and special operations. All for a few pictures of nude women! As of now, there is no evidence of any monetary payment to Marwaha who has been charged under the Official Secrets Act and faces up to 14 years in jail.

Murthy, on the other hand, is charged with sending obscene messages on social media. The Delhi woman has alleged that he made objectionable, derogatory and obscene gestures and sexual remarks in messages he sent her on WhatsApp. Although Murthy later apologized for his behavior, the National Commission for Women (NCW) thought it fit to adopt a tough stance as a well-known public figure was involved and also because it was the second complaint of this nature against him. NCW informed the Mumbai police who picked him up from his home. He is charged under various sections of the IPC and the IT Act.

Why are middle-aged Indian men in responsible positions letting their guard down in such situations? How does just the scent of a woman make otherwise sane men throw caution to the wind and turn into predators? How can someone sell the secrets of the country for just a few nude pictures? This is mainly because of two things: first, most Indian men treat women as commodities and two; they think that most women are easily available. Sex to them is fast becoming a fun thing – they do not think twice before inundating a woman’s inbox with unwanted sexual messages.

Despite growing awareness about what constitutes sexual harassment and stalking and the consequences attached to indulging in them, we find that no place, starting from major thoroughfares in big cities to dark alleys in small towns, company boardrooms to casting couches, railways, aircrafts, hospitals, hotels or crowded market places and even places of worship, is free from these lecherous males. Most Indian men are reducing sex to sex of the gutter and they do not believe that no definitely means no. They do not seem to understand that this is one area where there is no first mover advantage.