Crime and the city: Bangalore in danger of losing its soul
Crime and the city: Bangalore in danger of losing its soul
The Times of India
A 30-year-old mother of two children is gangraped by taxi drivers in the wooded Bangalore University campus. How does the IT capital react?
The police say it is impossible for them to ensure the safety of each and everyone. Insensitivity at its worst.
The taxi operators’ association states it is difficult to investigate into the criminal record of each and every driver. Are citizens then at the mercy of rapists and killer drivers?
Women organisations and citizen groups just look the other way. Is it because the woman belongs to the lower strata of society?
Some know-alls blame the woman for having accepted a lift late in the evening. If so, isn’t hiring a taxi risky for any woman at any time of the day?
Politicians just do not react. Obviously. They are busy dabbling in intrigues, mudslinging, horse trading, striking unholy alliances, wooing vote-banks and holding rallies.
Compare this with a similar incident in Mumbai. A college girl is raped by a constable in a police chowki. The entire citizenry is up in arms. Everyone rallies around the victim and demands stern action against the culprit. Women’s organisations stage protests and dharnas. Top police officials say they feel ashamed as the constable has tarnished the name of the entire fraternity. Politicians of all hues join hands to criticise the incident in no uncertain terms. The constable is dismissed from service and criminal proceedings initiated. And steps are taken to sensitise the police force.
Why have Bangaloreans become so insensitive? Doesn’t such an attitude encourage hoodlums to commit such crimes again and again? The crime graph is on the rise. Not a day passes without reports of mugging, murder, dacoity, extortion and kidnap making it to the front page. Citizens returning home from office or an outing late in the night have become soft targets. A large number of persons work late nights in the BPO sector and other industries. Most depend upon autorickshaws and city taxis for commuting. Will they now trust these drivers after the rape of the unfortunate woman? With Bangalore growing at a faster rate, economy booming and citizens having money to splurge, criminals are finding the city a haven for their activity.
A few days after the rape, and after much goading by the media, the Bangalore police did announce some measures to check autorickshaw and taxi drivers. They will have to display the name of the vehicle owner, the name of the driver along with his photograph, and the vehicle’s registration number inside the vehicle prominently. On violation, a fine of Rs 2,000 will be levied. Periodic checks on autorickshaw and taxi drivers will also be conducted. These steps look good on paper. There is no guarantee about their implementation. In top cities of the world, vehicles carrying passengers are constantly under surveillance. Will Bangalore ever get to that stage? As time passes, everyone will forget about the rape incident and the measures announced. Till another innocent falls victim to criminals.
Bangalore needs a highly advanced and alert police force. The existing one is understaffed, overworked and poorly paid. It badly requires sophisticated weapons, arms, gadgets and vehicles. Its intelligence wing needs to be revamped. Lethargic and corrupt men add to the problem. The other day when the Chinese premier visited the Indian Institute of Science, a protester managed to breach the security and caused the police and the government acute embarrassment.
The citizens too need to be proactive. They cannot remain silent spectators to incidents of crime around them. They must take measures to strengthen security in the areas they reside. Force the police to make regular rounds. Alert them about s u s p i c i o u s strangers. If they don’t act, complain to the top brass, raise a hue and cry, hold protest demonstrations. Ask corporators, MLAs and MPs to help ensure security. What for are they elected?
posted by The Bangalorean @ 5/01/2005 06:54:00 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
When you have corrupt ,potbellied, overweight people as "policemen", what do you expect?. When the head is rotten, the body is rotten too. Since independence, we have without fail voted in these criminals as our leaders and what you see today is the result of the handiwork of the potbellied paan-spitting, thorougly corrupt uneducated politician. We have a whole gang of police officers-from the so called IG to the sub-inspector, who collect their pay checks every month(like they need it!!), doing absolutely nothing to address the issue of crime in the city. Big fat buddhas sitting around with their glorified titles- having no pride in themselves. The only IPS officer who used his brains to at least do something for Bangalore was JE George who was instrumental in setting up the wireless system for the city police way back in the mid to late 70s,that was because he had an engineering background.To keep our children and families safe, we as a nation should wake up to the fact that we need the best of us in every ministry and department across the country and there is no dearth of them. Ignoring these issues takes away the rigt to complain about these ineffecient incumbants in office today!!.
Is there anything good happening in Bangalore or rest of the country? In Bangalore, all we hear about it Infrastructure delays, high real estate prices, changing weather (for worst), traffic jams, pollution, water problems and now all the news about crime. Is there anything positive happening? If not, then how come people are moving to Bangalore (from overseas)? Bangalorean I am sure there 's some good happening.
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