Four years ago on this day, a 23-year-old woman had gone for a movie with her male friend to Select Citywalk mall in Saket. On their way back home, they took an auto till the Munirka bus stop. What happened next changed many lives.
On Wednesday night, The Hindu visited the bus stop around 9.30 p.m. to see if things had improved since the December 16 gang-rape, which saw unprecedented protests across the country and forced the government to revisit laws on crimes against women.
‘No other option’
Though the furniture market was shut, the stretch was well-lit. There was traffic on the road and eateries behind the bus stop were open. Rakesh Singh, who works at a dhaba here, said that he was at the eatery when the girl boarded the bus. But as far as he recalled, all seemed fine. “I got to know the next morning. I didn’t even see them.”
However, there were not many women at the bus stop. The few who were there said they did not feel safe travelling after 8 p.m. Some of them even said that they were waiting for a bus just because there was no other option.
Vandana Dutt, a resident of R.K. Puram who works in a beauty parlour in Noida, said she took the same route each day. She usually takes a metro from Noida and gets down at Hauz Khas, from where she takes a shared auto till the Munirka bus stop. Her brother comes to pick her up each day. “The area is not safe for women. I live in R.K. Puram, which is nearby, but I don’t go home alone. My brother picks me up everyday,” said the 25-year-old.
She said that earlier she would get down at the next bus stop, but was forced to change because some men would harass women there. “I once confronted a man who was harassing me. But I was scared as I knew that the police would not take the matter seriously. I changed my bus stop after that,” Vandana added. Her brother has to take a longer route now, but Vandana refuses to go return to the other bus stop. “My mother tells me to use my use earphones so that I don’t hear what the men say.”
Police presence
Further, there were two police constables and a police check-post on the stretch. Vandana said she had seen the policemen there for the first time. “They are here as December 16 is approaching and the media will be here.”
Constable Pradeep Singh, who was at the spot, said that policemen were deployed on the stretch round the clock. A police check-post was opened here five months back. Patrols are a regular feature at night.
Diana, an 18-year-old college student and resident of Munirka, said that while the main road had become better, the roads inside Munirka were still unsafe. “There are no streetlights in some lanes. The police patrol the main road, but what about the area inside?” she said.
