Still the unfair sex

December 27th, 2009

If the yardstick to classify a city as progressive is its economy, then Bengaluru could be described as such. But dig deeper and the picture that emerges is not very pretty.


Women are becoming targets of all sorts of crime more than ever before in the city, raising the hackles of activists, who would like to see a safer environment created for them.

The worst of it is , is that women are still being burnt for dowry and dying without a murmur for fear of the repercussions on the children they are leaving behind.

This year has seen a hundred per cent increase in crimes against women as compared to the first 11 months of the previous year. Until November 30 there were 1395 cases of crime against women in the city,including murder, molestation, eve teasing, rape and dowry deaths.

According to the Bengaluru police, there were 57 rapes, 30 eve-teasing and 239 molestation cases and 47 dowry deaths this year as against 15 rapes, 44 molestation cases and 18 dowry deaths last year. There were no cases of eve teasing at all last year, if the police is to be believed.

The rise in dowry deaths, which often pass off for ‘stove blast’ cases is particularly worrying.

On an average, six women are admitted every day to the specialised burns ward in Victoria Hospital and of them at least three succumb every 24 hours.

Says a policeman at the hospital, “The women seldom give a declaration holding their husbands or in-laws responsible for fear of their children being ill treated.”

Consequently most cases are registered as unnatural deaths and not as murders related to dowry harassment.

“There has been an alarming increase in newer forms of violence against women too. Sexual harassment at workplaces specially in call centres and the garment industry is increasing. But most cases go unreported,” says Donna Fernandes of Vimochana.

Domestic violence, which includes physical, sexual, verbal, mental and economic abuse is also a matter of concern as there is a 20 per cent rise in such cases every year. A voluntary counselling centre, Vanitha Sahayavani, run from the city police commissioner's office receives upto a dozen such complaints every day, besides telephone calls from women in distress. Most of them pertain to domestic violence and sexual harassment.

Nishi Mitra, a member of Mahila Jagriti Sangh observes that a “culture of silence” prevents women from talking about the violence they face in their homes.

Advocate Sanjana R. says that while there are several cases of domestic violence, only the extreme forms are recognised under the legal framework. For instance marital rape is not considered an act of violence, she points out.

Many offences never even reach the police due to the social stigma attached to victims of sexual offences, according to a senior police officer.

“However, the recent trend of women raising their voices against sexual offences is heartening,” he adds.

Police commissioner Shankar M. Bidari, meanwhile claims that crime against women is on the decline in the city.

“There have been cases of husbands killing their wives over trivial issues, of a son killing his mother, or of a paramour killing his partner, but in such cases the police can do little. We request women not to even contemplate suicide when they are harassed. Instead, they must fight and the police is always there to support them,” he says

His view that crime against women is on the decline has, however, surprised many. Says Rajini Kalwad, a software engineer, “Its high time the police did more to prevent crime against women. Before arguing that it has declined the police should look up its own statistics,” she advises.