Young women in 15 neighbourhoods in the city have become the de facto liaisons between citizens and the local police when it comes to highlighting issues of women’s safety.
Thanks to a year of training by Mumbai-based NGO Aangan Trust, the volunteers, who include teenagers and young women, now hold monthly meetings in their localities to keep abreast of latest challenges faced by girls and women, and bring them to the attention of the authorities. So far, the initiative has been conducted in 15 areas in and around Colaba, Cuffe Parade, Govandi and Wadala.
Aangan Trust members said the process has been slow but steady, and the first issue that needed to be addressed was the fear of the police in the minds of the people. Aangan Trust conducts various initiatives aimed at safety of children in the city, and volunteers were hand-picked from the initiative based on earlier interactions for the project.
“We had to first understand the problem ourselves and there was no one better than the girls staying in these areas to help us do that. Over a period of several months, we drew up a list of all the spots where girls feel unsafe while passing through. These included stretches that have a large number of liquor bars, public toilets and places with inadequate lighting,” Smita Dharmamer, associate director, Aangan Trust, said.
The study, Ms. Dharmamer recalled, was an eye opener. “For instance, in Wadala, we found families that would not feed their girl child at night because they did not want to take the chance of her having to visit the public toilet after dark. The extent to which eve teasing and other crimes against girls was normalised was worrying,” she said.
The Trust, and the volunteers drew up a map of each area they were working in, marking out the problem spots and discussing possible solutions. The areas with the highest number of incidents were marked in red.
The next step was to make the volunteers comfortable and confident enough to approach the police without having to rely on the NGO every time.
Frequent meetings were held with senior police inspectors of the local police station for the volunteers to get familiar with them and vice versa. After the problems in each area were spelt out before them, the police conducted a survey based on the maps drawn by the volunteers. Patrolling was increased wherever necessary and informal meetings were held with residents to increase the visible police presence. The police also helped the volunteers approach the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation so that street lights could be installed. Last month, the civic body issued work orders for two street lights, one each in Colaba and Cuffe Parade.
‘Heartening results’
“The results were nothing short of heartening. At a time when every other person wants to talk about how the police do nothing, it was inspiring to see how proactive they were. The Wadala TT police even allowed the volunteers to indulge in street art about addiction one one of the walls of the police station compound,” Atiya Bose, executive director, Aangan Trust, said.
Now, the volunteers hold monthly meetings at the police station, give updates to the police about the state of the problem spots on their respective maps.
They are also training other women on issues like domestic violence, importance of education, and triple talaq. With great joy, the volunteers have been observing the number of red spots on their maps decrease every month.
“The initiative is a positive one and we are only too happy to play our part in something that boosts our citizen outreach and lets us ensure their safety. The police-public relationship is a symbiotic one, and participation of both parties is equally important for a safe and crime-free environment,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Vinoy Kumar Choubey said.
