I was a journalist for over a decade and during my early years as a rookie, since I covered the Lifestyle beat – page 3 parties, fashion weeks, movie premieres and celebrity weddings would all be part of my editorial coverage. For those whose understanding of journalism is limited to what was shown in Madhur Bhandarkar’s movie, Page 3 – here’s what the worst part about my job was. Late nights. I had no car. During winters, Delhi would be freezing and filled with fog for about three months. I had no other alternative but to rely on office transport, which was basically outsourced taxi services, and we would be dropped off to our respective colony gates, depending on the distance.
On most late nights and by that I mean 2 pm, I would be alone with a cab guy; blaring music in the cab playing some sleazy Bhojpuri or loud Punjabi song and the windows would be rolled up.
Once, a driver, who I presume, deliberately took a longer route, and because I am not a Delhi-wallah by birth and directionally challenged, I couldn’t do much. My heart was racing as the young cabbie lecherously peered at me through the mirror; I called the Bureau Chief and spoke as thought I was talking a (imaginary) cop.
It’s been so long since that night, but each time a woman is assaulted in a taxi, I am drawn back to that memory.
It’s disheartening to see how callous companies are with respect to the safety of their women employees and how, little is done to actually verify the credentials of these cab rentals.
Also, in a country where husband’s rape wives and children as young as three are molested by close family members – how much can one really do about the character of a stranger? If he is frustrated because he has three kids and his wife doesn’t please him anymore and he wants to be rich, but is illiterate? If his fantasy of making out with Sunny Leone is a vile perversion that can easily demonise into raping his passenger instead?
Could the 23-year-old gang-rape victim, in Bengaluru, have escaped her torment if her company had provided transport facilities to commute home? The girl was with her colleague and tried hailing an auto to return home, when a van stopped by and the cleaner offered to drop her at Madivala. Not able to find another auto at that time, the girl decided to step inside the van. The friend tried to dissuade her as there were no other passengers in the vehicle. However, she insisted and got into the vehicle, a senior police official was quoted in leading dailies.
Incidentally, sections of Madivala, Agara and Domlur in the same city have a reputation of being completely deserted at night. Police suspect that the victim was driven to a secluded spot off Old Airport Road, where the van driver and the cleaner threatened her and sexually assaulted her. In her statement, the girl said that the driver had played Kannada music during her three-hour ordeal in an attempt to prevent her screams from being heard. They also conversed in Kannada.
Last month, a 37-year-old woman was allegedly raped by five people, including the driver of a Meru cab, in the intervening night of September 17-18, after being allegedly abducted in south-west Delhi’s Pankha Road. The accused abducted the woman, drove her nearly 15 km away to a shop in west Delhi’s Peeragarhi area and raped her there, said the police. In April 2015, again in the national capital, a 32-year-old working woman, who hired a cab from a Delhi Metro station, was raped at a secluded spot by the driver, who was arrested after a brief chase. The shocking crime – the second incident in four months – occurred in west Delhi’s Dwarka area, soon after the victim hired the kali peeli cab around 10.30 p.m. to reach her Madhu Vihar residence.
The Indian law (Factories Act, 1948) prohibits working of female employees beyond permissible hours after 7 p.m./8.30 p.m./9.30 p.m./10.00 p.m. in factories and commercial establishments. The law also lays down maximum permissible hours of work as well overtime hours in a day/week. It is to be understood that working beyond permissible hours can only be on rare occasions and not a norm. Any deviation from this requires prior permission of government authorities. Such permissions are conditional and impose restrictions and duties on the employer, aimed at ensuring security of female employees. Arranging safe transportation for female employees working beyond permissible hours is mandatory. No woman employee shall be asked to come for night shift for more than 15 days. Non-adherence of such conditions attracts penalties. In case a female employee becomes a victim of crime against her body because of such negligence on the part of the employer, the management of the employer is exposed to criminal penalties.
But, who follows laws here? And what about professions like advertising, media, hospitality and airlines, where women are seen working much beyond these stipulated timelines. What about high-paying software firms and private, foreign banks that work according to overseas timings of their clients? Are incidents of sexual exploitation, harassment and gang-rape now in the cultural DNA of this goddess-worshipping nation, which creates a hue and cry about beef, but stays silent when women are exploited by godmen or say die from acid attacks and dowry claims? Is this why the Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma can get away saying night-outs elsewhere may be fine, but it’s just not right for Indian culture and its women?
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