Where is the outrage?

Subdued Reaction

The recent rape of a minor girl in Patalamma Layout, in Kadugodi should set alarm bells ringing — a sign that Bangalore is further down the path to acquiring criminal notoriety than one would have earlier assumed.

The statistics are shocking; according to the National Crime Records Bureau, there have been 17 cases of sexual assault against minors in the last eight months; and given that these are the only the reported instances, the true figures are probably much more alarming.

Despite this, it seems that Bangaloreans have developed a sense of complacency. While the nation is still seething over the rape of a young girl in a private bus in New Delhi, the same kind of outrage is conspicuous by its absence in the City. There’s no dearth of armchair activism — campaigns and pages on Facebook, for instance — but on the whole, the attitude towards the City’s spiralling crime rate reeks of indifference.

Some feel that this complacency comes from the fact that until now, Bangalore has been heralded as an example of development and progress — not a City where instances of crime are increasing at an alarming rate. Shantala, a professional, reflects, “People read and talk about these cases but nothing is really done about them. Perhaps until a while back, the urban crowd of Bangalore felt unaffected by crimes against women — it was perceived as something that happened on the outskirts and sparsely-populated areas, not in one’s own backyard. But now, the situation is simply horrible — it’s time to take some action.”

She agrees that Bangalore is rapidly gaining a reputation for being unsafe, but says, “It seems a little as though Bangaloreans aren’t ready to accept this. I know for a fact that there are pockets of the City that I would avoid — I’m from Mumbai and while I always felt safe there, I’m not confident that people will come to my aid here if I get into trouble. Perhaps, it’s also because I’m not fluent in the local language.”

Recently, a group of professionals organised a protest against the plight of women in the country on Brigade Road. Kundan, the driving force behind this protest, explains that it’s time that the City shakes off its apathy. “We weren’t only protesting against the rape case in Delhi — we were addressing the fact that women are raped everyday in this country. Bangaloreans aren’t as active about voicing their outrage about these issues — it seems people here are more wrapped up in their personal lives,” he notes.

Interestingly, all the people who participated in the protest were professionals — some of Kundan’s colleagues, as well as women they met on Brigade Road who decided to accompany them. The student community — normally the most vociferous protesters in other cities — was conspicuously absent. “In other cities, students are a lot more active when it comes to campaigning,” says Kundan.

However, Archana, a software engineer, points out that to a large extent, Bangaloreans remain apathetic because of lack of faith in the City’s authorities. “The police force isn’t doing as much as it should to stop these crimes — when cases are highlighted in the media and cause a huge outcry, they swing into damage control. But those who are arrested rarely face serious repercussions because once the hue and cry dies down, these cases are not given importance,” she says. The police force, she adds, should not wait for an incident to provoke outrage before taking it up — “they should focus more on preventing such cases in the first place,” she states.