By: R K Sinha
The barbarous behaviour of some youths in Dumka in Jharkhand last Friday, a week before the Women’s Day, has raised more questions than we have found answers to far. First and foremost, it has raised the question of safety to working and other women who don’t mostly remain confined to the four walls.
Times have changed. More and more women are coming out and want to work shoulder to shoulder with men in every field, not just in offices. But the Dumka incident has raised an alarm well. The Spanish woman in discussion was a traveller. Along with her husband she had covered more than sixty countries including the US before coming to India.
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Her plan was to travel to Nepal via Jharkhand and from there to other countries which were not visited. They had safely reached the outskirts of Dumka. But by the time they came to the town riding on their bikes it was dark. So they decided to take rest and resume the journey next day. A tent which they were carrying was pitched up.
Unaware of what was in store for them, they were preparing for meal and rest. It had not dawned on them till then that they would be approached by some unknown persons at that hour. But this is what had happened.
Four youths in their 20s suddenly arrived at the spot and after a brief talk attacked the husband. She was sexually assaulted after his hands and feet were tied. Soon thereafter three others of the same age group were called. She cried and cried but nobody could come as the place was located outside the populous area.
Details have been provided to give a lesson or two to our women and educate them further. Many a time, women face a similar situation. To carry on and narrate the story further, she got up after they had left, started her motorcycle and parked that at a police station to register a complaint. Policemen behaved well, registered the complaint and took care of her. A team of policemen soon swung into action and three culprits were nabbed. Chief minister Champai Soren who has recently replaced Hemant Soren told media persons later that nobody, howsoever big, would be spared and that he would take such a stern action that nobody would dare to repeat the act.
There are two problems and they must be highlighted for the good of women who work in the field and are not house makers: first, all such women should face such lawbreakers bravely and two, they should not shy away from them. Many of them do not approach the police due to family pressure and stigma attached to it. Thousands of cases go unreported for these reasons in this country which is rising fast otherwise.
It is not to suggest that they have remained where they were in other areas until a decade back. Now, they are active and working together with men in all fields including defence and aviation. The total number of working women in organised and unorganised sectors is not immediately available, but it would run into crores. And it is rising by the day.
What is noteworthy, many of them are ready to do night duties. Ofcourse, the managements where they are doing night duties have taken special care and seen to it that they safely work and return home. Some states in the country have framed laws and created special police teams to prevent harassment to school going girls and others. The number of stalking has come down heavily after these new decisions.
The intention behind the stalking is not only to harass a woman. That has some ulterior motives including having sexual relationship. In national capital Delhi hundreds of women live in make-shift or small houses in New Seemapuri area. Most of them are migrant labourers from Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and Odisha. Some Bangladeshis have also joined them. Strangely, some officials for money or other reasons have provided Adhar and other necessary documents to them make the stay hassle-free.
The place has setups like Mahila Panchayats where they can complaint against stalkers and seek action against them. Councillors attached to them enlighten women – tell them what they can do to and what laws are there for their safety. They also look for solutions to their other problems.
These Panchayats have a link with Delhi Brotherhood Society with which Father Solomon George has a long association. He has told many tales of harassment to women. For example, some of the stalkers somehow find  mobile numbers of these women phone them in the night and send vulgar pictures. Some of the women get so perturbed that they even decide to shift or leave the work assigned to them. The Society has established a college in Delhi and a school in Haryana. Father said that most of the stalkers are thick-skinned and habitual offenders – do not pay heed to sanely advices.
Clearly, something more has to be done to make the workplace safer for women and to make them self-reliant. Several laws are in existence for decades for women safety but the crime graph has not come down yet when we celebrate World Women’s Day. What is needed is a major change-a major change in outlook and behaviour. In India, a woman is called a Goddess- but for nothing. (The writer is a senior Editor, columnist and an ex-MP)
