Be careful with that chain

Common Menace

Despite the fact that enough awareness has been spread about the problem of chain snatching, incidents continue to occur in the City. Metrolife speaks to a few women and the authorities about why this crime has not been curbed yet. Most people agree that lack of cautiousness is a contributing factor to such incidents.

Rajani Jain, a senior manager at a bank, feels that incidents like these are getting more common by the day.

“People should be more conscious about their surroundings and should raise their voices when they see something like this happening in front of them,” she says, adding that incidents like these often happen on streets that do not have proper lighting.

“An increase in the number of Hoysalas would probably help this situation,” she
suggests.

Women in the City understand that most chain snatchers plan out their attacks in advance and feel that staying alert and prepared for any untoward incident is important.
“Such an incident happened to me a while back.

I was walking on the street at 9 am and someone attempted to pull at a thin chain around my neck. I resisted, pushed him away and managed to get away,” narrates Pooja Poddar, a communications consultant.

She adds, “In situations like this, you don’t always have the time to pull out pepper spray. It’s important to be conscious of your surroundings. Always stick to the pavements and be alert while walking,” she says.

It’s mostly women who are the victims of these cases. K S Vimala, president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, Karnataka, feels that this is because women are easy targets.

“Men wear jewellery too. But a miscreant will not try his luck with a male since they respond faster. It’s better not to wear a lot of jewellery when alone. Who needs to wear jewellery when going for a walk anyway?” questions Vimala. She points out that  more police patrolling should help in handling this situation. “Identifying these miscreants and the areas these incidents usually occur in is important,” she sums up.

The authorities claim that the number of such cases has dropped. Joint commissioner of police (crime - east), S Murugan says that they have been doing their best to keep a check on this issue.

“The figures have dropped. In 2012, there were 329 cases reported. A total of 334 offenders were caught. In 2013, till April 30, only 102 cases have been reported, of which 28 have been detected,” says Murugan.

He adds that the police department has been trying different strategies to handle this situation.