Dipesh grew up in the slums of Mumbai. His mother worked to make both ends meet since his father didn’t keep well. With a 12-hour catering job, she used to come home at odd hours, which the neighbours found deeply discomforting. But Dipesh had immense respect for her. 

At 16, he quit his education and started helping out with the expenses. He worked his way up and landed a job with a reputed ad agency in Mumbai. 

One day, on his way back home from work, he saw a group of men harassing women in the local trains. Recounting the incident to Humans Of Bombay, he said:

“I saw a group of men harassing women who were trying to get into the ladies compartment. I couldn’t fight them alone, so I went to the cops who initially tried to dismiss me. After some coaxing, one of the officers came with me — but by then these men had left. I was really affected by this — I thought of my own mother who would return home late after work and being harassed in this manner…wouldn’t I have done something? I could’t let it go.”

He discussed the incident with his friends and started researching intensively. They found out that such incidents are commonplace in the locals and no one is doing much about it. So Dipesh invested in buying a pair of sunglasses with a built-in HD camera. 

He started recording everything that goes on in the locals. Primarily, men harassing women in all possible ways they can. 

“My documentation made me feel sick – I got a taste of being in these women’s shoes,” he said.

In 2013, Dipesh Tank and his 9 friends started a campaign called, War against Railway Rowdies (WARR). 

WARR gathered all the evidence and presented it to an inspector. And soon, a team of 40 police officers began working with Dipesh.

The live feed from the recordings caught the offenders on camera and by the time they reached the next station, the police officers were waiting to nab them. 

Within 6 months, they managed to get 140 offenders jailed. 

However, Dipesh barely sees himself as a hero. He says, 

“I have tremendous respect for all women, and it started at home — my mother taught me well. And maybe that’s the message we should send out — raise better boys at home, and the world will know fewer disrespectful men.” 

Since he first started WARR, Dipesh has spoken about his campaign on different platforms and has managed to urge more people to join the initiative. 

Even Amul applauded him for his efforts. 

The fight still continues, for both Dipesh and the women who go through these horrible experiences on a daily basis. But with the change that he is bringing at such a micro-level, we can say that all’s not lost.