Bangalore: Not yet heard of GITT? It stands for Give It To Them, to avoid sounding like a riddle. It is also a self-defence course for women of all ages, developed by Learning Lounge and Stress Therapy Corporation, two companies involved with soft skills/life skills training.

The self-defence course is being offered free to all girls and women aged 12 and above and there will be two sessions on the fourth floor of Eva Mall on Brigade Road on Saturday. The first session will be from 11 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. and the second from 3 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. One has to come wearing comfortable clothing such as salwar-kameez or a tracksuit and not in sari.

R. Shyam Sundar of Learning Lounge says: "As the population of the city is increasing, so is the rate of crime against women. Some estimates are that 200 crimes of various kinds in which women are victims may go unreported each day in Bangalore. These range from eve-teasing to outright sexual harassment. It is silent suffering for these women. The crimes reported by women victims to the police average around 19 every day."

There are many reasons why women decline to lodge a formal complaint with the police, women's rights activist explain. One is the deeply ingrained complex, that a woman cannot openly talk about harassment, especially that with a sexual overtone. "She must have invited it or provoked it" is one of the comments hapless women are faced with.

As to workplace harassment, fear of losing the job or being further ill-treated, makes many working women suffer in silence. All this despite stringent punishment under the law for the culprits but the law also takes its own time.

"Women need to be empowered to be equal citizens where physical and emotional security is concerned and it is often in the hands of a women herself to defend her rights; many do not know how to. Our self-defence courses have been attended by more than 5,000 women since 2002 and has been proved to be useful and effective in times of need," says Mr Shyam Sundar.

To register online log on to www.gittstuff.com or call 414476618.

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