NEW DELHI:“Every man for himself”. A proverb originating over five centuries ago had no inkling that a modest twist to it would define the state of things outside a third of Delhi Metro stations. For women, young and not-so-young, the proverb may well be “every woman for herself”. For women, the commute to a Metro station to board a shiny, silver air-conditioned train is precarious: snatchings, stalkings, lewd comments from lecherous men and being molested is a daily affair outside these stations. This is the twilight zone for the fair sex, the approach to the stations where, once inside, a feeling of safety is shrouded in the unnerving sense of fear from the outside.
Of the 125 Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) stations in the city, 44 are perilous for women as they have become a paradise for petty criminals, according to a Delhi Police survey. A senior Delhi Police officer told The Sunday Standard that around 2,000 cases of stalking and 500 snatchings were reported outside these stations in 2014.
The underlying fear factor is not because of inadequate deployment of security personnel outside the stations but due to a combined lackadaisical attitude of the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority and municipal corporations. Approach roads and parking lots at these 44 metro stations are either completely dark or the lighting is a feeble streetlight standing in silent silhoutte, throwing a sinister pale yellow glow on what it sees. Vagabonds, drug addicts and rag pickers have taken over areas outside these stations, doing drugs, lying in ambush like predators on a high for an easy prey.
Last week, 23-year-old Priya (name changed) reported to senior Delhi Police officials that she was being stalked by a group of youths everyday when she stepped out of Pul Bangash station in north-west Delhi while returning home from work. She told police that the lighting outside the station was poor and that her stalkers waited for her in the gloomy shadows of dusk.
She is not the lone victim. Almost every girl faces a similar quandary while going to a metro station or exiting it. Rashmi, a chartered accountancy student and a resident of Hansa Apartment at east Delhi’s Anand Vihar, goes through the same ordeal every day at Karkardooma metro station. “Leave aside stalking, auto-rickshaw drivers always refuse to go to Anand Vihar and the rickshaw pullers are usually drunk. I have called the Police Control Room many times,” she says. Once, a drunk auto driver molested her and she had to call the police and get him arrested.
In the wake of such complaints, Delhi Police conducted the audit (a copy of the report is with The Sunday Standard). On checking with respective police stations, they found that the maximum number of snatchings and stalkings occur outside these stations. Ironically, the police discovered that even the area near Patel Chowk metro station, a stone’s throw from Parliament and the residence of MPs, is unsafe for women after sundown.
Police found that while some parking areas have poor lighting, many approach roads do not even have lamp posts. The audit report has been sent to Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to facilitate coordination among various civic agencies and the state government to ensure adequate lighting and regulation of three-wheelers.
Special Commissioner of Police Sundari Nanda, who carried out the audit, said, “Parking lots at some metro stations do not have lights and some do not have any lights at all.”
The most unsafe stations in north-west Delhi are Jahangir Puri and Netaji Subhash Place. In east Delhi, Karkardooma, Akshardham Mandir and Mayur Vihar Extension metro stations are the worst for women, while in central and north Delhi, Shadipur and Pul Bangush take the top slot when it comes to crime. Areas around metro stations at Uttam Nagar, Panjabi Bagh, Janakpuri, Pashchim Vihar and Moti Nagar are dark and the lanes leading to them do not have even a single lamp post. All the 10 metro stations in Dwarka are vulnerable for girls and children during after dusk.
Nanda said, “Our patrolling vans keep a check on stretches which are dark at night but because of poor lighting, crime incidents are frequent.” Another senior police officer added, “The civic agencies and metro officials should check the dark or black spots near the stations.”
Last year, 25-year-old Simran Kaur was stabbed to death at 8 pm outside Karol Bagh metro station while she was going to meet her parents.
However, DMRC says that some areas do not fall under its jurisdiction. “The immediate area outside metro stations is lit well but the approach roads are not under our preview or jurisdiction. Other agencies have to take up the issue,” said a DMRC spokesperson.
DMRC has created a special unit to check crime inside trains and at stations. Called Metro Police, there are eight such units comprising 209 police personnel. In addition, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) handles security inside the stations, but there is still no mechanism to stop crime outside. DMRC’s 125 metro stations ferry 25 lakh commuters in the capital each day.
Another cause for worry for the Delhi Police is the suburban Ring Railway service in the capital, whose stations have become hubs of vagabonds and drug addicts.
While 12 trains operate on the lines on weekdays, a minuscule number of passengers use them. Conceived during the 1982 Asian Games, the 40-km long Ring Railway service has 22 stations with its average daily ridership being just a meager 4,700.
Ten Unsafe Stations
Inadequate or no lighting in parking areas and on some of approach roads to the stations
Jahangirpuri
Akshardham Mandir
Shadipur
Vidhan Sabha
Pul Bangush
Dwarka Mor
Dwarka Sector 14
Dwarka Sector 10
Uttam Nagar West
Mayur Vihar Extension