Viral Video: Neighbours Harass Two Sisters During Health Emergency In Mumbai's Santacruz

Mumbai neighbours harass sisters: A family in Mumbai's upscale Santa Cruz harassed their neighbours, in particular two sisters, during a health emergency, a video going viral on social media shows. Originally posted by prominent photographer Apeksha Maker on May 6, the six-minute-long IGTV documents the misbehaviour of a couple towards herself and her sister Akanksha.

The man, identified by Maker as one Kaushal Shah, can be heard referring to the women's age and marital status multiple times, attacking them with offensives like "psycho" as well. Police were called by the Makers, the video conclusion shows.

Calling it an "assault," Maker alongside the video on her Instagram detailed the backstory to the incident. "Today they created a huge scene when my father politely requested them to remove their cars as he had to go buy urgent medication for me." She claims she was having an allergic attack of anaphylaxis, a medical condition known to be severely reactive, even fatal sometimes.

"Here they are cursing us and harassing us by blocking our building driveway," she says.

Shah and the others, including his wife, their young son and an elderly woman, as named by Maker, can be seen hurling remarks at the two sisters, complaining about having to remove their vehicle at night, further claiming they would not do so in the future even if "someone passed away."

"Psycho Girls": Mumbai Neighbours Harass Sisters, Taunt Them For Being Unmarried

Alongside outraging over the vehicular conflict, Shah can repeatedly be heard taunting the two sisters for being unmarried in their 30s. "That's why these girls are bachelors," he says. "Who will marry them? Girls in the house not getting married and frustrated."

Akanksha Maker recounts the incident to SheThePeople. "'Poor girls. Bechari ladkiyaan. 35 and 33 year old wow. Review maangne do indono ke waqt.' I took some time to understand the last line — he meant “review” from potential Sima Taparia types who will approach them for some God forsaken reason (welcome back Suraj Barjatya). The age and our personal lives were brought up repeatedly in the verbal attack... I wondered, if we were men, would Kaushal Shah have howled his disgusting opinion regarding our marital status?"

A screengrab of Apeksha Maker's viral post below:

Source: Apeksha Maker / Instagram

"It’s appalling that they had the audacity to talk about our age and our relationship status in a time when women are not defined by these labels and have gone far ahead. This is exactly the example of what’s wrong in our society and how these narrow-minded, chauvinist and sexist individuals (the men and women of the Shah family) violate human decency," Maker's post on Instagram says.

"We were so terrified that if we step down they will physically hurt as they kept calling us down to fight," she adds.

Maker claims that the neighbours in question are guilty of violating COVID-19 protocol, as they collect in the compound without masks and social distancing norms.