What’s happening to Mumbai city? Are we hell-bent on breaking the record when it comes to committing gruesome atrocities on young girls and women? A series of ghastly rapes and sexual assaults in the past months have served as rude reminders of how shockingly unsafe the city has become for women.
But when you read about a 16 year old girl wailing off time in a deserted location accompanied only by a male friend, being kidnapped and then gang raped by four unidentified men – not only your blood boils thinking about those cold-blooded bastards, you cant help but partly blame the victims for bringing such ill-fated incident onto themselves.
A teenager who had gone for a stroll with a friend on the Mulund-Airoli bridge on Tuesday evening was abducted and raped by a group of men. Six people have been detained for interrogation.
The friend, Sandeep Choudhary, told police that he and the girl were sitting on the bridge when four men appeared suddenly and attacked him. After knocking Sandeep unconscious, the men grabbed the girl and took her to the mangroves in Airoli creek.
“Then they forced her into a boat and raped her,†Deputy Commissioner of Police Niket Kaushik said. The teenager and her friend are residents of Wagle Estate in Thane.
“Sometime after midnight, the girl managed to escape and walk to Vikhroli railway station. From there, she informed her family, who called the police,†he said.
A police team rushed to the station and took the girl to a hospital.
These days when most public of places are not safe, walking away unharmed in secluded spaces is simply unimaginable. But sadly no one seems to learn from other’s mistakes, till they are caught up in the same situation.
As for justice, in a country where out of every five men accused of rape, four walk away scot free (all thanks to the legal procedure that takes forever to complete its course), you can count on it to never be served.
Things like crash course in self-defense techniques, sharp reflexes, confidence in time of crisis or hope of being saved by some superhero, are all easier said than done.
Comments
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pensivelawyer
Apr 19th, 2007 at 4:23 pm | #
Whilst i agree that the legal procedure can and should be much much faster, its not right to only blame that. As i do have first hand experience, i can tell you that a lot of factors are responsible for this delay.
Vishal
Apr 19th, 2007 at 5:49 pm | #
Hi,
The blame lies with law and enforcement solely. We are a free nation and we should be free to take a walk. I think a little more vigilant police force and regular police patrols, specially in popular public places can greatly help. But I guess they are more busy finding costly cell phones of DUMB kins of DUMBER politicians and helping with private weddings…
pensivelawyer
Apr 20th, 2007 at 3:54 am | #
Vishal: LOL ….’free to take a walk!!!’ Dude, you wanna see what lack of freedom is, then you should’ve seen Iraq under Saddam or the like. now THATS lack of freedom.
Though, i do agree with the law and order factor and the requirement of more policing. Lets not forget that even that is more often than not, misused to make unfair gains.
Whilst policing is a must, over policing is also something to be carefully avoided. I would think that one of the best ways to make Bombay safer is to ensure that each crime is carefully investigated and concluded…..using the right forensics. Make sure the right man goes to jail….and make sure the rest of the city/country know about it.
THEN, people will think 10 times b4 even contemplating something so heinous.
shadows
Apr 20th, 2007 at 8:13 am | #
Tend to agree with Vishal here.. Surely, such incidents are on the rise in Mumbai. It isnt so safe anymore, as it was once supposed to be.
Regular police patrols may help. Of course, secluded places need to be avoided, but still… it might happen anywhere, not just such places.
Its also not just about rapes, its the general security scenario. If a guy goes there alone, he might be mugged.
Shaan Khan
Apr 20th, 2007 at 4:58 pm | #
The situation is not getting better and hence this calls for some outside the box thinking.
Suggestion 1
Pass a law that every time there is a rape then the cops from the local police station are fired from their job, stripped and the left naked and penniless in Khandar (Afghanistan), the sodomy capital of the universe.
Suggestion 2
Pass a law that every time there is a rape, a member of the Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha is required to submit himself to be gang raped by the women’s male family members.
Suggestions 3
Responsible men from the neighborhood form groups called “Men against Rape” and patrol these unsafe areas in groups of five or ten in order to keep them safe.
I like suggestion 3 (let me know what you think). Nonetheless any one of of the above should solve the problem.
shadows
Apr 20th, 2007 at 5:18 pm | #
Shaan Khan,
Good that you chose suggestion 3 ! Thats the best yeah..
Shaan Khan
Apr 20th, 2007 at 5:47 pm | #
In NYC too we have the “Guardian Angels”, a group of citizens who try to keep the city safe via group patrol. There is a point at which we have to stop looking for government tities to suckle and start taking personal responsibility. The people who live in unsafe neighborhoods and the people of the city of Bombay have to take this responsibility. Curtis Sliva a founding member of the Guardian Angel was shot at, but did not surrender his responsibilities. Imam Siraj Wahaj (of Brooklyn New York) via personal sacrifice managed to clean-up sections of Brooklyn. Hence I believe only Bombayites can make Bombay proud. Forget about the cops and the politicians, they are useless most of the times.
Matt
Apr 22nd, 2007 at 4:47 am | #
Patrolling by men from the neighbourhood? Most likely you will see them raping the girl in that case!
Shaan Khan
Apr 22nd, 2007 at 9:23 am | #
One can only save one neighborhood at a time, but this has to be done by the people of that neighborhood themselves. If there are no decent people left then there is no hope left.