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City Streets are the lechers’ domain

By Shalini K Sharma DH News Service, Bangalore:

Those who take pleasure in such lewd activities walk scot free as the victims are often advised against complaining or even reacting.

Safety of women in the city is at stake. Incidents of stalking, molestation and rape are on the rise. Leering men, standing at kiosks outside shopping complexes is a common sight around the busy, ‘up-market’ M G Road, Church Street and Brigade Road.

Women, who are subjected to all this and more, choose to keep quiet on most occasions. Even more shocking is the indifference of some of the city policemen who shrug away complaints from women.

Deccan Herald spoke to people who frequent these ‘happening’ areas. Professionals working late in the night are vulnerable to harassment or worse. “What happens in Majestic and Gandhinagar, is now happening on M G Road,” says Sonal Shah, Manager-Sales, Zee Telefilms.

Crank calls

Leena Shoor, Brand Planning Director, Lintas, is from Mumbai. “In Mumbai, I used to travel by local trains, often, late in night. But, I was never scared. On the other hand, here, if I take an autorickshaw at night to my place, which is just a few minutes away, I do not feel safe.” She visited the Bangalore Habba this year. At one stall, she had to fill in her phone number on a form while buying a few things. From then she started receiving crank calls, she says.

Places around M G Road, Bangalore’s favourite hang out, are distinctly unsafe at night for women. The stretches which are not well lit are the major trouble spots, like Church Street or the M G Road pavement bordering Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Ground which has a lush growth of plants for cover.

There are many instances where men just loiter or stand around on roadsides and leer at women. Many pass denigrating comments, and even walk away scot-free.

“I was walking to my office on M G Road, enjoying the shade of the trees. Suddenly, a guy walking towards me undid his fly and flashed at me. I was infuriated and chased him and confronted him,” says Shefali, a content writer.

What happened next is astonishing. “As I confronted him, about 25 people, all men, gathered around and watched. When I requested them to help me, they instead ‘advised’ me to keep quiet and let the guy go. They said it was no big deal,” she fumes.

“I park my car on Church Street everyday and I always get someone to accompany me. Walking alone to the parking lot feels unsafe,” points out Antara who works with Intel. “I have often observed, guys just hang around for no particular reason. They just want to watch women. This makes me uncomfortable,” says Anu, a software engineer.

The policemen who patrol these areas do not help either. Most police constables seem indifferent or uninterested when it comes to women’s issues. Age is no barrier to these lechers. Middle aged women , young professionals or schoolgirls, they all stand threatened by their lewd behaviour.

Anupa, Mini, Anupriya and Nisha are class 12 students who frequent these places on holidays. “Eve teasing is so common that we learnt to ignore it,” they declare in unison. Would they approach a cop if harassed? “No. We would rather call people. Approaching cops for help is too much of a hassle. It is too cumbersome to file a complaint and follow it up. It is safer to have male friends with us,” the group says.

Unless the city authorities wake up to this reality, Bangalore stands to lose the fair name it has always had.