Purnima expected it to be a pleasant evening stroll on the tree-lined inner streets of Taramani Institutional Area, but it turned out to be a nightmare.
Two men on a motorcycle groped her right outside her college. Filing a complaint with the local police station did not help, as she never heard from the police officials.
The lanes around 2nd Main Road in Taramani Institutional Area, which has many educational institutions and offices, has gained a notoriety for incidents against women, chain snatching and mugging. Most of these incidents have gone unreported.
Lack of sufficient streetlights and inadequate police patrolling, especially at night, seems to be the main reason for this.
“A week ago, I was walking with my friend outside my campus around 8 p.m. We noticed two men on a bike following us and we became alert after seeing them. Suddenly, they groped me and sped away before I could even react. My friend alerted the police about the incident and filed a report too, but till date I haven’t got any information from the police,” says Purnima Rajput, a 20-year-old student of a private college in the locality.
According to students, not many register a formal case at the police station, fearing a backlash. Such incidents aren’t gender-specific as many men have been attacked by anti-social elements too.
“It was 10 p.m. and I was listening to music while heading to my hostel from college. A man tried to rob me of my phone. I resisted his attempt to overpower me. He escaped from the spot,” says Soham Sen, a native of Kolkata, who sustained deep cuts on his forehead and arms.
Professors who work in Government colleges say they make it a point to wrap up work before 6 p.m as they don’t want to walk alone on these lanes.
“There are only seven women staff who work here at the institute and many of them commute by train.
At night, there are only a few functional streetlights and sometimes we can’t even see who is walking on the opposite side,” says professor Sulochana who works at the Institute of International Tamil Studies on 2nd Main Road.
Towards safety
Government institutions are making their own arrangements to make the streets safe for their students.
“We are building another entrance to the college; 20 per cent of that work has been completed. Once that gets done, students need not use the inner road to enter or exit.
“The new entrance connects the college to the main road directly,” says the principal of the Institute of Textile Technology.
Police officials say only a few stray incidents have taken place.
“We have the beat police patrolling the area round-the-clock. But now, I will make arrangements to increase surveillance in the late-evening hours. I will myself patrol this area,” says P. Sundaravadivel, the DCP (Law and Order) of Adyar.
