Bollywood diva, Preity Zinta's latest column for www.bbcnews.com criticising India's 'barbarian' eve-teasers has touched a raw nerve with thousands of women across India and abroad. Readers have applauded Preity for her brave stand against the daily abuse and humiliation of Indian women across the social divide.

In her column, Zinta expressed her frustration saying "she did not feel safe on the streets of India " and it makes her feel "angry and humiliated".

"Incidences like these take away a woman's dignity, her space and her freedom" she added.

BBC news web site was flooded with thousands of e-mails addressed to Zinta from people across the globe. Reactions to the column are still coming into the bbcnews.com office everyday, confirms a press release.

BBC's India on-line editor Sanjoy Majumder said, "Preity's columns always provoke a fantastic response, her first had 85,000 readers on just the first day, but we've been really taken aback by the emotional outpouring her latest has produced. She really does seem to have touched a nerve with women worldwide."

Preity's next column will be appearing on www.bbcnews.com/southasia next month.