Harassing women ‘a social norm’, say offenders!

Asked to fill a police questionnaire, over 250 persons caught by SHE teams for harassing women provide startling answers in Hyderabad.

Is it alright to harass women?

“Yes”, because “it is the norm in society”, is the shocking response from the offenders caught by Cyberabad Police’s SHE teams. When put through questioning, they revealed even more startling attitudes and notions: that women were “equally at fault for moving about freely” and for “making themselves vulnerable” to harassment.

What if their “sister or wife or mother was teased, molested or raped?” To this, over 50 per cent offenders said they would be “enraged”.

Also, most of those interviewed cited “nuclear families” and “less intervention of parents” as the main cause for their behaviour.

It was when police sleuths asked the 250-odd persons caught by SHE teams for harassing women to answer a questionnaire of 15 queries that the ugly truths came out.

“The questionnaire was prepared in a bid to understand the attitude of the offenders towards women,” Malakajgiri DCP R. Rama Rajeshwari explained.

The details were shared with families of the offenders to help them overcome the problem. “Counselling classes are being held for the offenders, and they have been asked to work alongside the police in creating awareness on the subject,” the official explained.

Awards presented

Cyberabad Commissioner C.V. Anand reviewed the work of the SHE teams at his office on Monday and presented awards to the policemen.

Apart from nabbing those indulging in harassment of women, the teams are also conducting awareness camps in IT companies, educational institutions and offices.