Offices and public places are not the only places that witness harassment of women. It happens online too, and the rise is alarming, at least within the Cyberabad Commissionerate limits.
The victims are mostly women – recipients of abusive e-mails or messages, preys of hacked mail accounts and fake profiles on social websites like Facebook.
“Colleagues, classmates or batchmates at schools or colleges, and spouses are resorting to such activities,” says Cyberabad Cyber Crimes ACP Jayaram.
Unrequited love or strained relationships are prime among reasons for these perpetrators to harass the women.
“They are frustrated and resort to this thinking that they would not be caught,” say investigators.
In some cases, the offenders send obscene content in the email, to embarrass the woman. Forwarding them to all the contacts of the victim is another way of humiliation. Some create email ids with false details, but are caught by tracking the internet protocol address.
Instances of such crimes doubled in 2014 compared to the year before.
However, investigators are hitting a dead end when emails are sent through servers abroad. Email service providers don’t respond to police queries asking them to furnish details of the origin of the email and cite laws of their land.
More humiliating is the practice of creating fake profiles in the names of women and posting objectionable content on the accounts. “As the offenders post mobile phone numbers or email ids on the profiles inviting people to talk to them, the victims are traumatised,” police say.
Following a spate of incidents of crime, the traffic police and Transport Department have instructed cab service providers and private taxis to implement safety measures in their vehicles.
Special drives were also conducted to check if cab drivers were complying with the Motor Vehicle Rules and other guidelines announced to ensure passenger safety.
In fact, at least three special drives were carried out in the city last year. For some reason, the police restricted themselves to cab services and private agencies, having turned a Nelson’s eye to auto-rickshaws.
Around one lakh auto-rickshaws ply on the city roads every day, and form an important public transport alternative for citizens. Many instances of kidnap of women, robbing passengers at knife-point and other cases have been reported in auto-rickshaws as well.
However, except for asking auto-rickshaw drivers to display their phone numbers and vehicle details on the rear side of their seat, little has been done to render safe the three-wheeler mode of transport.
A decade ago, traffic authorities had asked auto-rickshaw drivers to have a transparent window on the vehicle’s rear. The aim was to allow the driver to get a view of the traffic behind, and also help passengers who otherwise stick their heads out in a risky manner, to look out for a shop or house address. Given that auto-rickshaws are used as a getaway by criminals, such a window would be useful for the cops, besides being mandatory under Motor Vehicle Rule-100.
The victims are mostly women – recipients of abusive e-mails or messages, preys of hacked mail accounts and fake profiles on social websites like Facebook.
“Colleagues, classmates or batchmates at schools or colleges, and spouses are resorting to such activities,” says Cyberabad Cyber Crimes ACP Jayaram.
Unrequited love or strained relationships are prime among reasons for these perpetrators to harass the women.
“They are frustrated and resort to this thinking that they would not be caught,” say investigators.
In some cases, the offenders send obscene content in the email, to embarrass the woman. Forwarding them to all the contacts of the victim is another way of humiliation. Some create email ids with false details, but are caught by tracking the internet protocol address.
Instances of such crimes doubled in 2014 compared to the year before.
However, investigators are hitting a dead end when emails are sent through servers abroad. Email service providers don’t respond to police queries asking them to furnish details of the origin of the email and cite laws of their land.
More humiliating is the practice of creating fake profiles in the names of women and posting objectionable content on the accounts. “As the offenders post mobile phone numbers or email ids on the profiles inviting people to talk to them, the victims are traumatised,” police say.
HOW SAFE ARE THE CITY'S AUTOS?
Following a spate of incidents of crime, the traffic police and Transport Department have instructed cab service providers and private taxis to implement safety measures in their vehicles.
Special drives were also conducted to check if cab drivers were complying with the Motor Vehicle Rules and other guidelines announced to ensure passenger safety.
In fact, at least three special drives were carried out in the city last year. For some reason, the police restricted themselves to cab services and private agencies, having turned a Nelson’s eye to auto-rickshaws.
Around one lakh auto-rickshaws ply on the city roads every day, and form an important public transport alternative for citizens. Many instances of kidnap of women, robbing passengers at knife-point and other cases have been reported in auto-rickshaws as well.
However, except for asking auto-rickshaw drivers to display their phone numbers and vehicle details on the rear side of their seat, little has been done to render safe the three-wheeler mode of transport.
A decade ago, traffic authorities had asked auto-rickshaw drivers to have a transparent window on the vehicle’s rear. The aim was to allow the driver to get a view of the traffic behind, and also help passengers who otherwise stick their heads out in a risky manner, to look out for a shop or house address. Given that auto-rickshaws are used as a getaway by criminals, such a window would be useful for the cops, besides being mandatory under Motor Vehicle Rule-100.
