Don’t look the other way

Promises of assistance from the government, political parties, the railways and ordinary citizens will bring some comfort to young Jaybal...

Promises of assistance from the government, political parties, the railways and ordinary citizens will bring some comfort to young Jaybala Ashar. She will need all the help she can get to overcome her trauma. She is a courageous woman and will surely be able to make of her life what she planned before her terrible experience on Monday of being thrown off a moving train by a vicious thief. But one thought will probably recur to her in her hospital bed and again and again for the rest of her life.

If only…. If only the three other women in the compartment had shouted and raised the alarm when the thief tried to grab her bag. If only they had come to her aid as she struggled with her attacker all the way through the compartment to the footboard. If only there had been an ordinary, normal, human response from people around her then and immediately afterwards, Jaybala may not have lost both her legs.

Hundreds and thousands of victims of everyday violence and abuse in Mumbai know the feeling: the utterloneliness of the victim in a crowded city. Is it callousness that makes people shut their eyes and ears to someone in trouble? Is it fear of inviting trouble for oneself? Whatever the psychology, it is clearly widespread.

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Why didn’t commuters last week report immediately to the Nalasopara station master that people hanging out of trains were being killed and injured by concrete blocks alongside the tracks? So what happens when Mumbaikars look the other way or cross the street or otherwise refuse to help other Mumbaikars? They demand more cops on trains, at stations, in the streets.

Meanwhile, the railways ritually complain about manpower and fund shortages and the city police that they are overstretched by VIP security and the pursuit of the mafia. Certainly, better policing will make the city safer and the authorities should not be allowed to shirk their responsibilities.

But to cope with all the random violence for which Mumbai is notorious would need as many alert cops as there are lamp-posts. Thebest police force in the world could not have prevented Monday’s incident. In the end, in situations like Jaybala’s or on the Virar local, the only option is for Mumbaikars to look out for each other.

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