‘The violation I faced…’: Actor Lakshmi Manchu recalls being inappropriately touched at 15

Actor Lakshmi Manchu has recounted the first time she experienced abuse as a teenager, describing a moment that left her shaken and struggling to understand what had happened.

Speaking to Hauterrfly, she said the incident occurred when she was 15 and studying in the tenth grade.

Lakshmi explained that she grew up in a highly protected environment as the daughter of actor Mohan Babu, usually travelling to school with a driver, a bodyguard and her mother. But on one occasion, her school arranged to take students by public transport to collect their hall tickets – something she remembered being excited about. 

The journey, however, became distressing. Lakshmi said she was touched inappropriately by strangers during the trip, leaving her overwhelmed by a sensation she didn’t know how to process. “The violation I faced…what is this ugly feeling? I was 15 years old then. I don’t know if they knew I was a little child. I moved away and didn’t get into a fight. I shared it with my girlfriends, and they said it happened to them too. I wasn’t picked as a special girl for this to happen. It happens to everyone,” she said.

She added that harassment on public transport is so widespread that if a woman claims she has never experienced it, “she’s lying.” Lakshmi also recalled how deeply the MeToo movement affected her, saying she “fell down crying” because every point listed on a Women’s Commission flier reflected something she had gone through.

Lakshmi said being part of a prominent family often made her an easy target, noting that people believed she would never speak publicly about such incidents. “Sometimes people will want to mess with you when you’re from a big family because we won’t come out and say it. A theft happens in my house, and I can’t go out and say it. Let the ₹15,000 go, that’s how I have been raised. Be careful with your things, but if it goes out, you don’t want to put your name out there unnecessarily,” she explained.

Lakshmi Manchu was last seen in the film 'Daksha: A Deadly Conspiracy', which hit cinemas on September 20.