Bigg Boss star Divya Suresh’s harassment claim clashes with Bengaluru’s ‘safe city’ tag

Kannada actor Divya Suresh, known for her stint on Bigg Boss Kannadatook to her Instagram Story on June 28 night to recount an alleged incident of harassment on a Bengaluru street, raising fresh questions about women’s safety in the city.

The 33-year-old actor said she was walking to her car with her cousin around 11.30 pm when an unidentified man began following them and making obscene gestures.

“Tonight, my cousin and I were walking to our car at around 11.30 pm when a man started following us. While following us, he was openly touching himself. We noticed it immediately and called him out, but he still didn’t stop. He continued until we got into our car,” she wrote.

Horror unfolds

Divya Suresh also captured the moment on camera, sharing a video on her Instagram Story that is no longer accessible. In the clip, she can be heard narrating that she was filming the situation as it happened, while her cousin points towards the man and urges her to “look at his hand over there.”

The man did not stop at that. The actor alleged he “followed us as soon as we got into the car,” prompting her cousin to ask her to call the police.

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In her post, the actor said no woman should have to face harassment simply “because she’s walking at night,” before directly addressing the Bengaluru Police. “Where is the safety we keep being promised?” she asked, tagging the department in her story.

Who is Divya Suresh?

Divya Suresh rose to wider recognition as a contestant on Bigg Boss Kannada Season 8 in 2021, hosted by Kannada star Kiccha Sudeepa. She is also known for television programs Nanna Hendthi MBBS and Jodi Rightand was crowned Miss India South in 2017 before transitioning from modelling into films.

Her movie credits include #9, Hilton Cross, Rowdy Baby, Kempu Haladi Hasiru and Hiranya. She was also in the news for a hit-and-run accident in 2025, wherein she was identified as the alleged driver of a car involved in the accident near Nithya Hotel in Byatarayanapura that left three people injured.

Bengaluru’s safety under scrutiny

Only last year, Bengaluru was called the safest city for women in India, according to the third edition of the Top Cities for Women in India (TCWI) 2024 report released by workplace culture consulting firm The Avtar Group. Bengaluru climbed from second position in 2023 to claim the top spot in 2024.

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The index is built from a City Inclusion Score, drawing on three pillars: Social Inclusion Score, Industrial Inclusion Score and Citizen Experience Score. Data was compiled from sources including the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy, the World Bank, crime records and the Periodic Labour Force Survey, alongside Avtar’s own nationwide survey of 1,672 women across 60 cities, with 120 cities considered overall for the study.

A more complicated picture

Reacting to the report on LinkedIn, Bengaluru-based social entrepreneur Prachi Kaushik, who works on women’s health, livelihoods and grassroots entrepreneurship, offered a more layered take. She noted that Tamil Nadu has eight cities that improved their rankings in 2025.

Kaushik also pointed out a contradiction worth noting: Despite topping the safety index, Bengaluru ranks high in cybercrime figures from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). “This highlights a troubling reality: no city can be deemed completely safe for women,” she wrote, adding that many women continue to live restricted lives, with their sense of freedom largely confined to daylight hours, while nights remain “uncomfortable and unsafe” compared to what men experience.