Now, a badge to keep women safe!

SORRY IMAGE

Cases of unending reports of crimes against women fill Indian newspapers and websites each day making it a worrisome issue. So, finally the Ministry of Tourism has come up with a solution! In a bid to improve its sorry image, the government in a desperate attempt to rectify the ‘disturbing’ image of the City which is plagued with rape cases, molestation and sexual harassment cases has come up with a novel cause. 

The Ministry has decided to encourage people involved in the tourism sector to wear badges with the slogan ‘I Respect Women’. These badges will be in English and other languages including Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Russian.

The aim is to show that the majority (public transport vehicle drivers) do not support crime against women and Delhiites and foreign tourists can trust them. But, how can a badge improve the state of women and women tourists in Delhi? Can it change the mentality of perverts roaming on the streets and ensure safety? Metrolife spoke to a few drivers of public transport to know their reactions.

Buraki Upadhaya, an autowallah who has been plying his vehicle for the past 10 years says that, “Such steps can’t do much about the situation on ground. We autowallahs are already well behaved. We also have to earn our bread and butter and cannot afford to lose our jobs.”

Another autodriver Manoj Kumar Chaudhary blames Gen-X for increasing incidents of misbehaviour with girls/women in Delhi. “In sab se kya hoga? Aajkal ke bacche hi aise hain. Many a time you will find couples inside autos doing stupid things which can be really embarrassing and passersby give stare at us. Now who do you blame for it? You need concrete laws in India like Saudi Arabia has where body parts are cut after one is found guilty. Enforcement is really weak here. A badge won’t help anyone. Besides, the crime rates against women are high because of the hooligans coming from outside Delhi and not because of us. We also have women at home and know how to behave with them.”

A taxi driver who wished to remain anonymou shares his views. “Both boys and girls should remain in their limits. And a girl should never forget her limitations. I see girls cosying up with boys in broad daylight, which in turn provokes people to misbehave with them. All these actions make them think negatively about the girl. So, it is all about perception which needs to be changed and a mere badge cannot improve that.”