BANGALORE: At several paying guest (PG) accommodations across the city, danger lurks within the four walls.
Anu Swaminathan (name changed), a techie, has been staying at a PG in Kundalahalli with 11 other women from September 2012. A caretaker does the cooking and cleaning and doubles up as a guard.
“But it has so happened that he brings a group of friends over and they all sit and drink in the hall. It makes us scared and uncomfortable,” she said.
The house is surrounded by several buildings under construction and workers often stand outside and gawk at the women. “Once, my roommate was taking a walk just outside the gate and one of the workers came and stood right in front of her. She got scared and came running inside,” Swaminathan narrated.
There have been times when the workers even slept on the terrace of the PG and no one stopped them, she added.
Fear of Perverts
Women living in PGs in other parts of the city told of similar experiences. In most areas, PGs are set up in houses built close to one another, making it easy for perpetrators to jump on to various floors.
After one such incident, Deepika Roy (name changed) had to vacate a PG in Koramangala 4th Block.
Around 1 am on a night in August 2013, a construction worker jumped on to a window sill on the fourth floor and began to masturbate until three girls in the room raised an alarm, forcing him to flee.
“We wanted to file a police complaint but the owner dissuaded us. When news of the incident spread, he asked us to vacate the PG. The owner blamed us for the incident,” she recalled.
She has no peace of mind even in her present PG in Koramangala 6th Block where a man from the opposite building was once caught peeping in through the window. “Most PGs have no watchman,” Roy said.
‘Raids Will Render Women Homeless’
Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), Kamal Pant, said there are no regulations on opening or running PGs.
“Police can raid PGs but if we did that, 70-80 per cent of them would have to be shut down, rendering many women without a roof over their head,” he observed.
Pant said as no permissions are required to set up PGs, there are no records of how many of them are functioning in the city.
“It is the only economical accommodation for several women. We cannot just crack down on them,” he maintained.
He further said women in PGs must be prepared to face threats or harassment by owners or caretakers. “If they are not comfortable, they might as well look for other places to stay. If a caretaker drinks inside, it cannot be counted as an offence under the IPC sections,” the police official said.
However, Pant said women who face any harassment may call the police control room or the women’s helpline for assistance.
Koramangala, BTM Layout, Indiranagar, Whitefield, the area around Silk Board, Kundalahalli and Electronics City have the most number of PGs in the city.