Are women safe in public places? Well, they say — NO!

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 1

In light of two incidents reported in the city on Tuesday, in which drunk hooligans misbehaved with women at public places, women expressed that reported incidents are a tip of an iceberg and most of them try to ignore such incidents as filing a report with the police, confronting perpetrators or even reporting the incident to the family means trouble or restrictions on the complainant.

In the first case, two men harassed a medical student and tried touching her inappropriately. In the second case, three drunk miscreants smashed the windows of a woman’s car after an altercation following a minor traffic accident.

The women in the city expressed that lack of evidence to support the complaint in most cases and ‘what-would-people-say’ attitude and being blamed for attracting attention of miscreants are a few of the reasons why most women prefer staying silent.

The girls said in most cases reporting an eve-teasing case even to parents, would result in restrictions on their mobility and family tension.

“Most of the time, women ignore staring, stalking and passing of comments, as it is not worth confronting but sometimes, it emboldens the perpetrator and things escalate,” said Deepti Sharma. She said apart from teaching girls how to defend them, parents and schools should also teach boys about appropriate and acceptable behaviour.

Rupinder Kaur, Associate Professor of medical and surgical nursing at SGRD College, said: “Most men at public places respect privacy but still there are many who don’t. Apart from stricter laws, there is a need for change in societal behaviour.” She, too, added that women tend to ignore minor harassment and file complaints only if it becomes unbearable.

A Women Cell has been created at all police stations that deals with such complaints. All complaints received are taken seriously and women are encouraged to report such incidents. Parminder Bhandal, DCP Law and Order

Dr Simarpreet Sandhu, Professor, oral and maxillofacial pathology, said: “Without doubt at the heart of the harassment lies deep disrespect or disregard for women as equals and deeply entrenched patriarchy with widespread misogyny that needs urgent attention.” She said to make women feel more accepted and secure, deep-rooted changes in social attitudes should be aimed at by partnering with policy makers, law-enforcement agencies, non-profit organisations and institutions.

Only 26 cases reported in 8 months

As per the figures procured from the police officials, only three cases under Section 509 (insulting by taunting, commenting, gestures) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and only 23 cases under Section 354 (molestation) of the IPC has been registered this year in the areas under the Police Commissionerate