The safety of women in Puducherry and Auroville has become a big question with several cases of sexual harassment and rape being reported in the region. While in Puducherry, at least five incidents were reported in the last one month, several complaints of harassment were reported in Auroville area as well.
Kalki Subramanian, a transgender rights activist, writer, actor and entrepreneur, said she was a victim of sexual harassment on June 2.
“I was riding my moped on the Auroville Main Road near the Karavadikuppam bridge that goes to Pondiville. I was followed by two thugs on a bike and they came close to me when I reached a dark zone and touched me wrongly. I was pushed down on the road. My moped took a tumble and I was hurt in the arm and legs. A few minutes later, a good-hearted foreigner happened to see me and came to my rescue. I was bleeding,” said Kalki at a press conference on Saturday.
“I had reported this to Auroville security services and also met some police officers and spoke to them. However, when I went to Auroville police station, they didn’t register an FIR as I couldn’t identify the culprits,” said Kalki.
Kalki added that she had sent a complaint via e-mail to the Villupuram Collector as well as to the Superintendent of Police on the incident.
Many local village women and foreigners also similar harassment. However, the incidents went unreported.
Recently, a 60-year-old foreigner woman came under attack when she was on a two-wheeler and the culprits assaulted her sexually.
Foreigners living in Auroville acknowledged that sexual harassment cases had gone up in the past four to five years.
“I stayed in Auroville for 5 months in 2009. I have heard similar stories from the women. It has been happening for the last four years,” stated a post from a foreigner on popular social networking site, Facebook.
Thousands of people from all over the world visit Auroville every year, including a good number of women. However, there was no security for women in and around Auroville, lamented the foreigner.
In Puducherry alone, five rape cases were reported in a span of one month.
While one minor girl (14 years) from Ariyankuppam was raped by a youth on the pretext of dropping her at the bus stand, another girl of 17 years was gang-raped in Villianur by the friends of a boy with whom she had an affair. Her boyfriend reportedly recorded the incident on camera and made sexual
advances. The most recent incident reported here was that of an eight-year-old girl who was raped by a 14-year-old boy.
Two middle-aged women, a fish-monger and a buttermilk vendor, were raped when they were returning home after the day’s business.
The defunct women’s commission had made things worse. The institution has remained headless since October last. When it was functional, it took up sexual harassment cases and conducted awareness drives, said S Kamalini, former chairperson of Puducherry Women’s Commission.