Many still feel unsafe where Danish woman was raped

Several CCTV cameras keep watch around the Railway Officers Club, security guards prevent strangers from entering the gates of the campus and a police vehicle is seen in the vicinity. 

But women working in offices close to the club say the place is not safe.In January this year, a 51-year-old Danish woman was allegedly gang-raped by eight men on the club campus, prompting the then Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to sit on dharna near Rail Bhavan.

Several security measures were adopted then but the vigil declined as months passed, women working for the Railway in nearby offices allege. They say they frequently encounter drunk youths there.

“The railway station area right opposite our office was used as parking space till a month ago. Men found it a popular spot for drinking,” alleged Anju, an employee of IRCTC whose office is located only a couple of buildings away from the club.

“No policemen are visible in this stretch of road when I report for my 6.30 am shift. Police presence was seen only for the first few months of that rape incident or whenever a VIP arrives to catch a train,” another railway employee Manisha Tripathi told Deccan Herald. Right opposite the club is the VIP entry into New Delhi railway station.

Amit Verma, a security guard at the club, however, claimed he has witnessed no incident of harassment of women inside or in the immediate surroundings of the club.

“A couple of drunken youths managed to enter the club during wedding functions being organised here, but we immediately informed about them to police,” said Verma, who has been working at the  club for the last one month.

A patrol van was sighted parked right outside the club when Deccan herald visited the spot on Tuesday afternoon. Two policemen inside said they pay frequent and routine visits to the spot.

“Each time we ask the guard if everything is alright,” said one of them Ever since the gang-rape, one guard in the daytime and two in the night keep watch. 

But a broken barbed-wire fence – wide enough to allow easy access to one person at a time – at the very spot where the gang-rape took place, indicates possible laxity. 

Verma claimed the fence was broken by some labourers working at an under-construction building bordering the club. “Security guards keep a constant watch on that opening,” he said.