BENGALURU: In February this year, a group of about 10 men damaged 27-year-old Priya’s car in a road rage incident. Scared for her safety, she rushed to Viveknagar police station and lodged a complaint, expecting her attackers to be tracked down. However, in a cruel twist of fate, she had to face the irate family members of her attackers the next morning when they landed up at her apartment with the police in tow, who had blurted out her address to them.
With a lack of gender sensitisation programmes or training modules on how to deal with complaints filed by women, instances of harassment of women who come forward to seek help from the police are increasing, activists say. The situation seems to be worse for women who are victims of sexual crimes, according to K S Vimala of the Janawadi Mahila Sanghatane. Besides the questions aimed at discouraging filing of complaints, police officers have in the recent past even been accused of going to the extent of offering cricket match tickets in order to dissuade women from filing sexual assault complaints.
“Often, police officials only file non-cognisable reports (NCR) instead of FIRs. They try to mediate settlements between the woman concerned and the accused or, if she insists on going ahead with the complaint, they file a diluted version of the complaint,” Vimala said. This is why suspected stalkers like Shivarama Reddy, accused of raping at least 12 women, manage to escape being jailed due to technical loopholes.
“The police also flatly refuse to classify any acts perpetrated by the husband of a woman as crimes. The overall feeling is one of condescension and they act as if the act of taking the complaint itself is a huge favour they are doing,” she said.Gender sensitisation training was one of the recommendations of the Justice J S Verma committee, which submitted its report in 2013. Vimala claimed that these programmes are yet to be implemented for the majority of the city’s police force.But the police claim otherwise. “As part of our schedule for the staff, we train them on gender sensitisation. Also, whenever such incidents are brought to our notice, strict action is taken against the offenders,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (East), Seemanth Kumar Singh. He also felt that there were not many cases of police harassment taking place now.
Speaking to Express, former Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) S T Ramesh said such instances occur due to a shortage of staff at stations but it is definitely a cause for concern. “If such instances are to reduce, there must be a climate of free registration of cases across the country. For this to happen, political leaders, officers and the media should stop worrying about statistics. More rapes being reported does not mean that more rapes are occuring, rather it means that more people are approaching the police,” he said.As a short-term solution, Ramesh suggested standing orders to the effect that no one should be turned away from a police station.
NIGHTMARISH EXPERIENCES
September 2017
A woman heading to work was harassed by a man in a car in HSR Layout. Police gave the case a quiet burial despite being handed clues that could have led them to the harasser.
Tired of the delay and lack of progress in
the investigation, the harassed woman stopped pursuing the case.
March 2017
Senior police officials took the inspector of HAL police station off a case where the complainant alleged that he had offered her tickets to a cricket match in return for her agreeing not to file a complaint. The woman had gone to the police station on March 4 to file a complaint against a suspected serial rapist who she said had attempted to sexually assault her in her paying guest accommodation in Kundalahalli.
February 2017
Priya (27) had her car damaged by at least 10 men in a road rage incident. Viveknagar police, who took her complaint, gave out her address after which the wives and mothers of the accused landed up at the complainant’s apartment and created a ruckus.
July 2014
The 24-year-old son of aleader of the Bengaluru unit of BSP had been arrested for sexually assaulting a post-graduation student who was kidnapped by the youth and his friends. Initially, police registered cases of kidnapping and molestation only. Later, charges of rape were brought against the accused after insistence by the victim. Police inspector Moha-mmed Rafiq was suspended for dereliction of duty and for questioning the victim why she had gone out at night.
The Problems women face at police stations
Officials only file non-cognizable reports (NCR) instead of FIRs in certain cases
Police try to mediate settlements between the victim and the accused, especially in cases of sexual harassment
They file a diluted version of the complaint
If the accused is the woman’s husband, they discourage the woman from filing the complaint
They behave rudely with women complainants
What can be done
Political leaders, officers and the media should stop worrying about statistics so as to encourage filing of more cases
An atmosphere where cases are registered very easily should be created
The staff allotted for each police station should be increased, which will increase the police’s willingness to register cases
Complaints of sexual harassment should be registered in the presence of female police personnel
Strict punishments must be given to those who harass women