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Abused, Assaulted For Wearing Sports Bra In Bengaluru Park, Says Actor

Samyuktha Hegde blamed the incident on Congress’s Kavitha Reddy, who firmly denied her claims and said the argument took place over the actor playing music in the park and abusing the guard.

Bengaluru: Kannada actor Samyuktha Hegde has said that she and her friends were abused and attacked for working out in a Bengaluru public park wearing a sports bra by a group of people led by Congress leader Kavitha Reddy. Denying the charge, Ms Reddy said they got into an argument because the women were playing loud music and abused the security guard when asked to stop.

Ms Hegde went live on Instagram and posted on Twitter, accusing Ms Reddy of shaming them for their choice of clothes and shouting at them for public indecency. In a video that she shared, the Congress leader can be seen lunging at one of the women.

"Three of us were working out and Kavitha Reddy suddenly came and tried to assault us, saying that our clothes were wrong and we were doing cabaret instead of working out," the actor told The Times of India newspaper.

She also accused the police of doing nothing to stop the harassment at a park next to the Agara Lake in HSR Layout in Bengaluru on Friday evening. They spoke to Ms Reddy and asked the actor and her friends to leave, she said.

"When we were waiting for the police to arrive some people in the park who knew her started supporting her and playing moral police and asking us if it is our culture to wear sportswear. About 10 men with her arrived right before the police did and started threatening us. They threatened to destroy our careers and the police stood there and just watched," she said.

Kavitha Reddy, however, firmly denied the accusations of moral policing. "The women were playing loud music in the park and dancing. When the guard asked them to stop, they abused him. I only wanted them to apologise," she told NDTV.

Ms Reddy accused the actor of a publicity stunt and said why would other park-goers support her if she was wrong.

"The minute I took a picture of her, one of the girls called me a bloody old b**** and that’s when I got angry and went to confront her. I was instigated. Why should I be called names?" The News Minute website quoted her as saying.