"Sexual harassment" unwanted experineced of my journey in Sri Lanka

since I living in Sri Lanka for my educational purposes, have I experienced any bad things among the good things that I often share?

Yes i have, so lemme share it to you

Sexual harassment

August 2020 afternoon, on the bus there was a Muslim SL guy who sat next to me, along the way from Kandy Town to Mulgampola, that guy forced me to gave him my phone number (ofc i refuse), he even took out 2000rs which he said to pay it, he repeatedly said that if I didn't want to gave it, he would touch my body, and he continued, even if I yelled or cursed at him, no one in the bus would care and if I reported to the police, the punishment he would get might just be slapped or even released immediately (when i said to him that i would scream or reported him to the police).  Such incident made me uncomfortable, the other person next to me despite seeing my uncomfortable expression still didn't help.  At that moment, my condition was not good, between feeling scared and not in the mood to fight with him, I chose to get off at the nearest bus stop. Since that I was traumatized for 2 weeks. 

May 10, 2021 morning. When I was on my way to Kandy Town in the bus.  At that time the bus passengers were not too full.  There was a big and tall SL guy suddenly sitting on my right side even though there were many other seats empty, since he sat next to me my feelings were not good, because i was wondering why he didn't seat on the other seats. I thought that soon I would get off from the bus and I was a little sleepy so I stayed on  my seat, when my eyes were slightly closed, I felt that there were big fingers touching my thigh, I glanced at the hand that touched me and immediately looked at the person next to me who was not removing his hand, he touched using his right hand in a crossed position and he  cover it with the bag he was carrying.  I immediately stood up, shouted at him and immediately changed seats.  Everyone looked on me but no one asked or defended me.  After the person got off the bus, the bus conductor approached me, asked what happened, followed by another.  I was so pissed off, why don't people ask when that pervert was still on the bus? Within 3 days after that, I was traumatized and crying, I never experienced something like that before (in my country or in other countries I had visited). Finally I told the incident to my senior (girl) at my campus. She said that sexual harassment is something that often happens to women in SL, almost no one will help women who experience sexual harassment in public transportation.  What women can do when experiencing sexual harassment in public transportation is to remain silent, change seats or get off from the bus.  There's no point cursing at that pervert, because other people aren't helping either.  If the woman fight back by cursing or hitting, the pervert might act even more cruel.

She adding that what i did was good enough, bcs i didn't hit him by my umbrella which i hold it, after i said to her that i was regret, i didn't have any idea to hit him at the moment.

When I asked my seniors about the incidents of pickpockets that I had seen (I've seen 2 times a woman would be pickpocketed in the Kandy-Colombo train) people immediately helped and beat pickpocketer, but why don't people help women who experience sexual harassment in public  transportation?  sexual harassment and pickpocketing are two different things.  For women who experience of getting pickpocketed, there is evidence, while sexual harassment is difficult to prove because a pervert can deny it by reasons of accidentally, hallucinations from women itself, or even because women's clothes. #WTF

I was wearing hijab and mask (since covid)

based on my research on google, 90% of women in SL experience sexual harassment.

https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/sexual-harassment-in-sri-lanka-stop-telling-everyone-its-hunky-dory-5bbd53154daa

https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2018/11/217602/sexual-harassment-sri-lanka

Up to this day, when writing about this experience, I am still in my feeling of trauma, especially when I have to go out of the boarding house for shopping.  To be honest there are a lot of SL people who are very nice and friendly, but there are also bad people.  The kindness I got from the local people were more than the bad things that I experienced. But doing sexual harassment is unjustified behavior, it will always cause trauma and fear to the victim.

If you (women) are traveling by public transportation (bus) in SL, you should avoid sitting next to men.