Travelling right

What do you say when you hear of a disabled minor girl being raped on a Mumbai local train in the presence of five other commuters? What do ...

What do you say when you hear of a disabled minor girl being raped on a Mumbai local train in the presence of five other commuters? What do you say when, a day later, you read of a 40-year-old woman molested by a drunken TTE on the August-Kranti Rajdhani? Yes and what do you say when a college student has to battle five lumpens in a public bus in Delhi while 20 commuters look on without response? That it makes you sick? That this is a freak case? That humanity in this world is coming to an end? That it happens all the time?

In 1998, an incident of molestation by an army jawan in a Delhi-bound train, the consequent discovery of many such incidents and the callous response of the authorities, forced women8217;s groups to come together and initiate the 8216;Railway Campaign8217;. They have been fighting for the last five years to bring the issue of safety of women on trains to the attention of the railway authorities. The terrible incidents of the past few weeks have only brought out more clearly the reality of sexual violence on trains.

There are several misconceptions about such violence. One, that such incidents do not happen or, if they do, they occur in dark, deserted places. Two, that they happen to certain 8216;types8217; of women and are perpetrated by certain 8216;types8217; of men. We remember getting on to the Rajdhani to distribute pamphlets and put up posters on what one should do in case of sexual assault, and the general response was, 8216;8216;Why are you doing this here? Nothing like this happens on the Rajdhani8230;8217;8217; The fact is you may be young or old, rich or poor, jean-clad or enshrouded in a dupatta, alone or with 14 members of your family, fair or dark, married or unmarried, it does not matter.

As part of our campaign, we have been trying for the last five years to force the Railway Ministry, the Railway Board and the Railway Protection Force to acknowledge the specific issue of lack of safety of women on trains. Some of the interventions sought included the creation of a grievance cell that can execute investigations and monitor complaints filed by women; that the issue of safety of women passengers be clearly put on the Railway Safety Review Committee RSRC mandate; that public notices on the rights of women, obligations of fellow commuters and the role of the TTE/ officials are placed prominently in stations and inside compartments. Unfortunately, the Railway authorities did little to respond to these demands. In fact it has only just recognised the validity of the claims that women do get sexually assaulted on trains. This was prompted more by the bureaucratic dilemma of having to deal with directives from the NHRC than any twinges of the conscience.

And it8217;s not just the Railway authorities that to recognise this reality, but all those administering and overseeeing public transport in our cities. They must respond to the horrific crimes against women occurring every day before their very eyes. Women8217;s safety must be made a national concern.

The writer is part of the women8217;s rights group, Jagori