Delhi creator dresses as woman for night ride, video goes viral
A Delhi-based content creator wore a dress, makeup and a dupatta and rode a scooty through the city for two hours at night, recording the experience. He says men stared at him, including at a petrol pump, two men followed him, auto drivers cut in front of him and cars trailed him for a stretch. "It is not safe for girls to go out alone at night," he said. The video, posted on @bejaintle, crossed 15 million views in two days.
Source
Times of India — Top · read the original report ↗
Desk check · some claims need care
What the desk checked (5)
- A Delhi-based creator dressed as a woman and rode a scooty for two hours at night, recording the experience. — Attributed to the creator's own video shared on Instagram page @bejaintle; not independently verified in source.
- Men stared at him, two men followed him, two auto drivers cut in front of him and cars followed him for a stretch. — All described as the creator's claims in the video ('he says', 'he claims'); no police complaint or third-party confirmation cited.
- He said: 'In the last two hours, it has become so disgusting for me' and 'It is not safe for girls to go out alone at night.' — Direct quotes reproduced from the video as given in the source.
- The video crossed 15 million views in two days. — Figure appears in source without platform data citation or timestamp.
- User comments included 'It happens daily in a girl's life even during the day.' — Quoted from unnamed social media users; commenters not identified.
Analysts’ view opinion
This began as a content creator's social experiment, but women's safety in the national capital is never a politically neutral subject. Crossing 15 million views in two days means it is no longer one man's night out — it is a viral narrative capable of moving public sentiment, and such narratives have repeatedly shaped Delhi's political conversation over the past decade. For those in office it is an uncomfortable defensive position; for the opposition, a low-cost line of attack.
- Because policing and civic responsibility in Delhi are split across different tiers of authority, the standard political reaction tends to be a blame exchange over who owns the problem.
- Viral video now sets public perception faster than official data does, creating a newer and harsher form of accountability pressure on those who govern.
- The format — a man experiencing the street as a woman — can push debate past 'does this really happen' straight to 'what is being done about it'.
- Equally, this is a two-hour, single-person experiment, so anyone citing it as a basis for policy invites the criticism that it is anecdotal, an argument incumbents could well deploy.
- With women increasingly courted as a distinct voter constituency, parties across the spectrum have grown quick to respond to stories of this kind.
What to watch — Watch whether any party, elected representative or police authority responds formally, and whether announcements on night patrolling or women's safety measures follow.
The story reports no government or political response, no complaint and no official action, and it does not establish that the incidents in the video were independently verified.
Deep dive
Research brief · 8 facts · 4 dates · exam-readyThe brief
Context
A Delhi-based content creator dressed as a woman — wearing a dress, makeup and a dupatta covering his head and face — and rode a scooty through the city for two hours at night, filming the reactions he drew. He posted the footage on his Instagram page @bejaintle as a social experiment on how safe women feel on Delhi's streets after dark. The video crossed 15 million views in two days and triggered a wider online conversation about street harassment and women's safety in India's biggest cities. The story is an account of one individual's recorded experience, not an official study or survey.
Key facts
- The creator rode a scooty for two hours at night in Delhi dressed as a woman, wearing a dress, makeup and a dupatta covering his head and face.
- The video was shared on his Instagram page @bejaintle and crossed 15 million views in two days.
- He opens the video saying, "I will show you how safe girls are in Delhi at night."
- He says men stared at him on the road and at a petrol pump while his vehicle was being refuelled.
- He describes two men who began following him and trying to move closer, and a man who approached and spoke to him.
- He says two auto drivers deliberately moved their vehicles in front of him; one stopped after noticing his friends were filming, another repeatedly drove towards him.
- Cars appeared to follow him for a stretch, prompting him to say in the video, "This has become very scary. I think we should stop this."
- His conclusion: "It is not safe for girls to go out alone at night. Really, the lives of girls are very difficult."
Timeline
- Night of the experiment (exact date not stated in the source)The creator dresses as a woman and rides a scooty through Delhi for two hours, recording staring, men following him, auto drivers cutting in and cars trailing him.
- End of the two hoursHe says, "In the last two hours, it has become so disgusting for me," adding that cycles, bikes, autos and cars all tried to follow him.
- After the rideHe posts the compiled video on his Instagram page @bejaintle.
- Within two days of postingThe video crosses 15 million views and draws a strong response from social media users.
Who has a stake
- Women commuters in Delhi and other large cities — Their everyday safety while travelling after dark, and whether their routine experiences of unwanted attention are publicly acknowledged.
- The content creator (@bejaintle) — Ran the two-hour experiment and says he was left shaken; his video has become the vehicle for a public debate.
- Social media users and commenters — Shaping the debate; one wrote "It happens daily in a girl's life even during the day," another said all men should have this experience.
- Auto, car, bike and cycle riders on Delhi's roads — Named in the creator's account as those who stared at, cut in front of or followed him during the ride.
- Petrol pump and public street spaces at night — Identified in the account as sites where the staring and unwanted attention continued, including while waiting for refuelling.
Why it matters
The video converts an abstract debate about women's safety into a recorded, minute-by-minute account of what a night ride through Delhi can involve. It also highlights the gap the comments underline — between a two-hour experiment and the daily calculations women make about routes, stops and who is behind them. Such viral documentation can shape public pressure on policing, street design and lighting, even though it is one person's experience and not systematic evidence.
UPSC angle
Prelims pointers
- The video was posted on the Instagram handle @bejaintle and crossed 15 million views in two days.
- Duration of the social experiment: two hours, at night, on a scooty in Delhi.
- The creator's disguise: dress, makeup and a dupatta covering his head and face.
- Reported forms of harassment in the video: staring, being followed on foot, autos cutting in front, cars trailing.
- Quote to remember: "It is not safe for girls to go out alone at night."
- The account is a self-recorded social experiment, not an official survey or police data.
Mains framing
The viral Delhi video illustrates how street harassment operates less as isolated crime and more as a continuum of staring, shadowing and vehicular intimidation that makes public space conditionally accessible to women. The creator's two-hour ride recorded men staring at a petrol pump, two men following him, auto drivers deliberately cutting across his path and cars trailing him — behaviours that individually may not register as offences but cumulatively force women into constant risk calculations about route, stopping and pursuit, as the source notes. That one auto driver reportedly desisted only after seeing a camera points to the deterrent value of visibility and accountability in public spaces. The comments — "It happens daily in a girl's life even during the day" and the suggestion that all men should undergo the experience — frame the issue as one of empathy deficit as much as enforcement failure. A way forward suggested by the material itself lies in treating such documentation as a prompt for safety audits of night-time streets, better lit and staffed spaces such as fuel stations, responsive policing of non-contact harassment, and behavioural change among road users; the caveat is that a single recorded experiment cannot substitute for systematic data on urban women's safety.
Key terms
- Social experiment
- An informal test of public behaviour — here, a man dressing as a woman and riding at night to record how strangers react.
- @bejaintle
- The Instagram handle of the Delhi-based creator who filmed and posted the two-hour night ride video.
- Dupatta
- A long scarf worn with Indian outfits; used here to cover the creator's head and face as part of the disguise.
- Scooty
- Colloquial Indian term for a small automatic scooter, the vehicle used for the night ride.
- Street harassment
- Unwanted attention in public spaces — staring, following, being cut off — described in the video as persistent rather than incidental.
Practice questions
- A viral video of a man dressing as a woman for a night ride in Delhi has renewed debate on women's safety in public spaces. Discuss how non-contact harassment such as staring and following restricts women's access to urban public space, and suggest measures.
- "Safety in cities is not only a policing question but a design and behavioural one." Examine this statement in the light of accounts of night-time travel by women in Indian metros.
- Critically assess the value and limitations of viral social experiments as evidence of social problems, using the Delhi night-ride video as an example.
Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.