Travelling alone by Metro may be unsafe for women

Bangalore, 5 Oct 2013(DHNS): A recent incident of harassment that took place at a Metro station shows the BMRCL has to ramp up its security measures to ensure safety of women.

 

A woman traveller, who was returning home after work, was eve-teased at the Mahatma Gandhi Metro station and the staff not only refused to help her but also failed to register her complaint.

 

The incident happened when the commuter was waiting to board the train from MG Road to Baiyappanahalli at around 8 pm, and a group of five men also arrived on the platform at the same time. According to the woman, one of the men winked at her and repeated the gesture inside the train.

 

“Annoyed with the harassment, I approached the guard who refused to help and I later approached the Metro Chief Controller at MG Road Metro Station who responded by saying he could not do anything about it,” the woman recalled.

 

She later got onto a train towards Baiyappanahalli only to realise the same people were on that train, too. They surrounded her and started asking what her problem was. No commuter came forward to help.

 

The woman later alighted at the Trinity Station and informed one of the Metro staff who finally agreed to help. Once she described the appearance of the five men, the Metro staff informed the security guards who detained the men at the Baiyappanahalli Metro Station.

The woman then sought the assistance of her friends who contacted Baiyapananahalli Police. All the five were detained and upon inquiry, found to be employees of an IT company and drunk. The men were kept behind bars for the night and let off in the morning with a strict warning.

 

The woman said, “Since I had contacts who helped me approach the police, and the culprits were duly punished. What if the same thing had happened to any other girl? Her complaint would have probably been ignored. When Metro officials are not willing to lodge a complaint, how can you expect an alarm or a helpline number for women security to work?”

 

Since then, she has never travelled in the Metro. None of the police stations en route the Metro has received any complaints of such incidents.

 

“It’s not that it is a stray incident. Not knowing where and whom to approach is the reason for not receiving any complaints so far,” a police official said.

 

Passing the buck

 

When questioned about the safety measures adopted by BMRCL for women travellers, the officials conveniently passed the buck. BMRCL Chief Security Officer P S B Nair refused to divulge any details on safety measures for women on the pretext that he was not authorised to speak with the media.

 

When questioned about this incident, he said, “Law and order is a problem of the police.”
Despite repeated attempts, Chief Public Relations officer B L Y Chavan could not be contacted.

 

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is going all out to ensure the security and safety of women passengers, starting from CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) to police personnel travelling in plainclothes on Metro trains from 8:30 pm till 11:30 pm. However, back home, other than private security guards at the entrance of the station and two guards at the platform, there is nothing in the name of security for passengers.

 

When Deccan Herald spoke with a few regular women travellers in the City, they said security checks were compromised at the Metro stations after 9 pm. “After 9 pm, most of the time, the X-ray machines for baggage are switched off and the security staff, who are in a hurry to leave, do not check baggage properly. The same goes for the checking with handheld metal detectors,” said Rashmi (name changed) who travels by the Metro daily.