In a city that tops the national charts on crimes against women, and where echoes of December 2012 and Uber 2014 often resonate, Asia’s largest unauthorised colony has defied the trend. Sangam Vihar, which houses nearly 10 per cent of Delhi’s population, has recorded less than half a per cent of its incidents of violence against women (see box). Residents, activists, government officials and policemen that The Indian Express spoke to offer a number of reasons why this is so: the inter-dependent social structure that acts as a deterrent, women in positions of power, and even a lack of space to commit such crimes. “We rarely get complaints from women,” says a policeman at the local station. And women say they feel safer inside this unauthorised colony than outside. “You spend some time at the Hamdard bus stand, and you will find boys and men passing comments or making gestures at women,” says local social worker Shashi Awasthi. The Hamdard bus stand is the main entry point to the colony. ALSO READ: Where power flows through water pipelines One reason for this feeling of security inside, residents say, is that most of them have interlinked economic interests. Almost every second resident appears to be running a shop, or some handicraft or vending business inside. “We all work here together, so we ensure that all women are safe,” says Taj Mohammad, who runs a garment shop at Sangam Vihar. “Everyone needs the other for something,” agrees Gurmeet Kaur, the unanimous choice as in-charge of the “public borewell” installed in H Block a few months ago. ALSO READ: All parties love this illegal colony: Its people don’t count, their votes do Kaur’s image is that of a strong yet bipartisan guardian, and she is one of several women who take critical decisions on behalf of her neighbourhod. “I took charge of the borewell because the men were not able to do it,” she says. Suneel Haturiya, who has rented out his home in Sangam Vihar and lives in Madangir, has an interesting theory on why women are safe inside the colony. “The area is very small and densely populated. There is little space to commit any crime. Almost everyone is watching you,” he says, adding that “the major rape cases of Delhi happened in deserted places.” He goes on to claim that the “rural background” of the residents here is another reason why women are safe. “People here come from a rural background where women are still treated with respect,” he says. A postgraduate student of Delhi University, who lives in K Block, a corner bordering a forest area, says she has “rarely faced any harassment” in the “overcrowded, shared autorickshaw” she takes to reach the bus stand at the main entry gate. Women doctors at the government dispensaries say they have been striving to empower women here through awareness camps. A dispensary usually treats around 100 patients daily, almost all of them women. “We have been working on three major programmes: antenatal care, family planning and immunisation. Also, each dispensary has around 30 primary health workers who spread awareness in the area,” says a woman doctor. This sense of empowerment is best reflected in the case of the three women — Shakuntla, Shabana and Anrawati — who wrested control of a borewell from an AAP supporter. “We never feel threatened here,” says Shakuntala, who says she slapped the borewell operator for favouring his supporters while supplying water. “We don’t know how men would have reacted elsewhere, but here no one has dared confront us after that incident.”
