Women need more security: Activists

Women activists and NGOs are angry by the increasing number of “rape” cases in the city and the lack of proactiveness of on the part of the police.

“A senior police officer once said that out of the total number of rapes in the city, only 15 per cent are ‘professional rapes’. If they are going to begin a case on the basis of suspicion and doubt that a rape could be fabricated, it is going to be difficult to solve the problem.

However, we know that the police cannot be everywhere all the time. The society at large is responsible for the increasing number of rape cases.

This is merely a manifestation of the growing intolerance of society to growing freedom of women,” said Donna Fernandes of Vimochana, an NGO working for women rights.

Echoing her views, Anita Krishnamurthy, state president, Karnataka Sarvodaya Shanti Sene, said, “The city is not safe for women. There is no protection at all and even when women complain to the police, there is very little that they do about solving their worries.”

Incidentally, she explained that divorced women are more vulnerable to such cases.

Sunanda Prabhakar, president of the Priyadarshini Mahila Jana Para Sanghatane suggests that the police should beef up bandobast outside colleges.

“Women should be free to roam around anywhere without the fear of being harassed or abused. This will happen when they see enough khaki protection around the city,” she said.