JOIN USLike charity, safety of women does not always begin at home. That being the stark reality, the reasons, sociological or otherwise, for crimes against women are varied. Here’s an overview of the ground situation in some of our major cities:
“Aamchi Mumbai” and women
Mumbai may have been a safe city for women, notwithstanding its infamous red-light areas and street-hookers who lurk in shadows every night and 'gropers' who slink in crowded trains, buses and streets preying on unsuspecting women and leaving them angry, helpless and embarrassed.
The image of this trading town as a woman-friendly city is incongruous with the predatory reality that stalk the streets. The official figures of crime against women even though a trickle of what happens in alleys and behind closed doors, indicates that 2011-12 registered 207 cases of rapes, 552 molestation cases and 509 of outraging of modesty.
The official records showing 15 per cent rise in rape cases and 14 per cent rise in molestation cases glosses over the traumatic gravity and emotional scars of the victims.
Cases in point
* Dec 9, 2012: A 62-year-old woman staying alone in the swanky Powai locality was raped by a family friend in her house. The acquaintance, a high-profile airline executive, on pretext of dropping letters came to her place and left the house after raping her; for two days the woman in fear of shame and stigma closeted herself in the house before telling the police.
* Dec 24: A BJP worker from the posh Malabar Hill area in south Mumbai, was taken into custody for passing lewd remarks at a fisher woman in a market. On being rebuffed, he thrashed her husband.
* Dec 25: Under a flyover, a 45-year-old man was caught by pedestrians after they spotted him trying to sexually assault a 25-year-old mentally-challenged woman.
* Dec 26: A woman constable filed an FIR against an Air India employee, who on being stopped in the busy Dadar TT area, tried to fondle her by touching her grinningly where her nameplate was pinned.
* Dec 26: A gymnastics teacher in a school in Mumbai’s central suburb was taken into custody after it was found that he used to fondle the private parts of girl students.