Smart Jodi contestant, YouTuber Ritu Rathee shares she was molested in Class 4; recalls standing strong for herself

YouTube vlogger Ritu Rathee, who currently appears with her husband on Star Plus show Smart Jodi, has opened up about a traumatic experience from her childhood. The pilot shared that she was molested when she was in the fourth standard, as she stressed the importance of teaching children about good and bad touch. Also Read| Arjun Bijlani recalls not feeling ready for the baby after their wife got pregnant: ‘I had only ₹50K. We decided not to do it

Ritu shared that though she was initially scared to face the perpetrator, who was her classmate, she later gathered the courage to stand up to him. She revealed that she even slapped the boy, after which he started hiding from her just like she used to hide from him.

She said, “There was a boy named Gaurav in my class, who always used to come and sit on the bench in front of me. At that time, we use to have wooden benches, and the space at the back of the bench used to be open. Taking advantage of this, the boy used to touch my feet during the class by taking out his hands from behind and his courage grew with each passing day.” Ritu recalled that these incidents would run over her mind later, but she was extremely scared to discuss this at home with the fear of being misunderstood. She decided to take the matter into her hands and stood up to the boy.

She recalled, “It was past four days, and somehow I gathered the courage to give him a reply back for this. As soon as we left the school that day, I called him while coming down the stairs. As he looked back, I gave him three-four slaps, pulled him from there, and ran away. The next day, I was very nervous while going to school, if he would do anything to me and have to bear the consequences. But after that particular incident, he himself wasn’t able to look eye to eye with me. He had started to hide from me, like how I used to hide from him earlier.” Ritu said that this is why she teaches about good and bad touch to her daughter so that she also doesn’t panic in a situation like this and talks to her about it.

Ritu and Gaurav, both pilots, are also famous YouTubers. Gaurav’s YouTube channel Flying Beast has over 7 million subscribers. They are currently seen in the reality show Smart Jodi, in which Indian celebrities and their significant others compete in a series of tasks and challenges to prove their chemistry as real-life couples.