IITF ’98, an eve-teaser’s paradise

Most visitors agreed. Chandni Joshi, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)’s regional programme advisor says: “What’s happening at the IITF happens everywhere. A vast percentage of crimes against women go unreported because of social stigma”.

Says Alok Das, assistant area manager with National Panasonic, in charge of the company’s stall at the Hall of Special Displays: “So many times my colleagues were forced to intervene. We tried to help by telling the girls being harassed to stand behind our counters.” Says a colleague of his: “On off-days, this place was overrun by wild mobs evidently hailing from rural Delhi and Haryana who seemed to have seen young women for the first time in their lives. There should be some way of screening visitors at the main gate”.

Similar sentiments are expressed at the Electrolux Arena stall: “It’s the ITPO’s (India Trade Promotion Organisation, which organises the annual event) responsibility to ensure exhibitor and visitor safety. Why do they organise such events if they can’t even do that?”says a visibly angry Pawan Soni, a sales executive. “Last Sunday and on election day, the situation was so bad we had to depute a boy with each of our women presenters to ward off aggressive/sexual advances. “They were under orders to take them into hiding inside the office area the moment the situation got out of hand. And it did most of the times,” he added.

Some of the women strolling around the fair told Express Newsline they were regretting their decision to come to the fair.

“We should have listened to our friends. It’s really bad here. The men start whistling and hooting the moment they spot us,” one said. “And then they follow you closely every single minute till we board a three-wheeler, making suggestive remarks and deliberately bumping into us every now and then.” She adds: “Even little boys in class V or VI behave the same way".

Shyam Sujan, a senior executive in-charge of the futuristic-looking Philips arena at the Hall of Special Displays agrees. “Sometimes the scene resembled the Kumbh Mela. There was a deluge of 4,000 to 5,000 people forcing entry into already jam-packed arenas. Often the crowd went berserk, touching, breaking and even trying to steal things from the exhibit areas. For example, we lost a palm-top computer worth Rs 45,000.” When asked, the SHO, IITF ’98 pleaded ignorance of any complaint from Philips.