Don146;t cry for Mumbai

The arrest of 14 people in the recent case involving the molestation of two women outside...

The arrest of 14 people in the recent case involving the molestation of two women outside a five-star hotel in suburban Mumbai cannot but be perceived as a significantly positive development. The incident that took place in the early hours of the New Year, recorded by two photographers from a daily newspaper and taken up by the local media, provoked widespread outrage in the city forcing the police to take quick action.

The molestation of women in public places is perhaps one of the most serious, unnoticed crimes in urban India. Women are groped in buses, felt up in crowded spots like railway platforms, followed on lonely streets. Despite the tag of being India8217;s most progressive city, Mumbai is far from immune to this national malaise. Many recent initiatives in Mumbai have focused on this problem, bringing to light issues such as the difficulties women face commuting or being out at late hours, the paucity of safe urinals and so on. A city-mapping project conducted by Pukar, a think tank on urban issues in Mumbai, discovered that women tended instinctively and unquestioningly to avoid badly lit streets even if it meant taking a longer route home. Conditions in other cities are likely to be equally bad if not worse.

The media attention and subsequent arrests have taken us one step further towards justice in the recent case of molestation. They are also likely to have served two important purposes: One, to turn what is seen by hardened perpetrators as condonable fun into a public offence and two, to convey the message that offenders are liable both to be caught and punished. The case has also been picked up by women8217;s groups 8212; a delegation met the police commissioner to discuss measures for women8217;s safety 8212; creating some hope for a longer-term perspective on the issue.

Despite these developments, there is a concern that any long-term perspective could be hampered by the manner in which this particular incident itself was brought to light and the sort of posturing that came about in its wake. The coverage of the incident raises crucial issues regarding class differences and the environment that allows such anti-social behaviour to continue. And it is to air these that the following suggestions and questions are being articulated on behalf of or for the three agencies that played a part in the recent happenings.

The Mob: Aimless, young men of the street are a feature common to all cities. In Mumbai, those at the lower rungs of the ladder live in conditions of extreme deprivation, most crucially to do with space. Sandeep Pendse in his essay for Bombay: A Metaphor For Modern India Edited by Sujata Patel and Alice Thorner talks about the plight of men of the lower classes who are denied both access to certain public spaces and also any sort of privacy at home or at work leading to a situation where 8216;a distorted modicum of privacy8217; is provided only by a crowd. Large cities co-incidentally, are also home to the more independent-minded middle and upper class women. While deprivation and class differences are no justification for criminal action, it is necessary to think about how the frustrations and aspirations of the lumpen are to be addressed if more respectful attitudes towards women in public spaces are sought to be inculcated.

The Media: Their role in exposing and highlighting the problem is creditable. Yet fairness demands that the media that points fingers examines its own role in objectifying women. Certain questions seem relevant at this point: Why is it that coverage of serious women8217;s issues has all but vanished from the media, including from popular women8217;s magazines? Why do women in the glamour industry receive so much more coverage than women in other professions? How are women projected by the media? On the day the molestation incident was splashed across the front pages, the sports pages of at least one newspaper carried a picture of a sports star8217;s girlfriend with her dress slipping off. Party pictures repeatedly show tipsy men smooching scantily dressed women sending, it seems, a contradictory message 8212; that it is okay for one class to do it but not another.

The Cops: The rape of a girl by a police constable in 2005 and the seemingly casual manner in which police commissioner D.N. Jadhav responded to the mob molestation incident may not inspire faith in the police force. At the same time, tarring all policemen with the same brush or casting the police as a hostile and unsympathetic entity is not conducive in the long-term interests of women. On an everyday basis, in fact, it is ordinary men in roles of guardianship that are the best protectors of women8217;s safety. Travelling alone outside Mumbai I have often been touched by sensitive, practical gestures made by small-time officials 8212; the ticketing clerk who manages to book all unaccompanied women in a single bogey on a night train or the bus ticketing agent who whispers 8216;ladies seat8217; into the phone to ensure one is not seated next to a potential eve-teaser.

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The protection of women in public spaces is an issue that has many ramifications, including for the future of India. No project of modernisation can be possible when one half of the population is unsafe. But the issue needs a more nuanced understanding of the aspects involved. It requires a collaborative rather than a confrontationist approach.

Mumbai-based Shah is author of 8216;Hype, Hypocrisy and Television in Urban India8217; amritareachgmail.com