Serious Question On Women’s Safety Following Kanjhawala Case : New Year With Old Days

Delhi has once again disappointed the country. Years have changed but the nature of crime in Delhi has not changed. A young girl, just 20 years old, fell victim in the early hours of the new year, to the gross negligence of the police and heinous mentality of some lawless ruffians in the nation’s capital which claims to have a fortress-like security.

Painful death of this girl being followed by her character assassination in a shameless attempt to cover up this heinous crime is proof that no matter how many claims of progress we make, as a society we neither learn from our mistakes, nor are ready to get rid of the backward mentality. From the self-styled police to the media acting as court, the government machinery seems to be performing rituals under the pressure of media trial, along with political rhetoric, some compensation to keep the victims silent, and then the eternal mass silence that never breaks, is the outcome of every such incident.

As a society, we are still running away from the same questions, which were posed to us ten years ago by the Nirbhaya incident that shook the entire nation. Has anything changed since then? Even today, savages are roaming freely on the streets in Delhi, which is overtly considered safe. The Delhi Police, which looked helpless then, is still forced to divert the investigation constantly. Even today, our security system is not able to live up to its claim regarding the safety of women. The mindset of men towards women is not changing. Inspite of being in the 21st century, how is our society different from the previous centuries? Remember, when there was brutality with Nirbhaya, didn’t we encounter the same questions? We didn’t have the answers to these questions then, nor do we have them now.

That is because whenever it comes to the safety of women in India, the evidence of huge lapses is seen scattered at every level. Be it the Nirbhaya Fund or the implementation of the Justice Verma Commission’s recommendations, the situation of insecurity remains the same. Even if there has been some change, it’s not praiseworthy. Government documents claimed to strengthen and activate policing with the Nirbhaya Fund, still nothing like that is visible on the ground of reality. On the contrary, vehicles bought from this fund are being used for VIP security.

Despite high ideals, there is inefficiency, insensitive approach of the police, lack of proper training and sensitivity at every level, from the place of incident right up to police stations. Once Police of Delhi used to call itself the police of Dil, but today its form seems to have changed. In the latest case, the police itself is under questions more than the accused. The accused kept dragging the girl, but even after calling the PCR, the police did sense its seriousness. Even after getting informed, how did it take 47 minutes for the police to reach the spot? Why didn’t even the PCR roaming in the area get a clue of this? Everyday new revelations are coming up from the CCTV footage, but the question is -Why they were not monitored at the time of the incident?

The CCTV footage of the accident has come to the fore, in which the vehicle of the accused was seen standing for a long time just 100 meters away from the accident site at around 2 am. If the accident happened around 3 o’clock, what was the vehicle doing near the accident site at 2 o’clock in the night? According to the police theory, the accused were coming from Murthal, so how was their car captured in the CCTV at 2 am at the accident site? Did the accident happen around 2 o’clock?

Did the accused give the dipper from their car at a distance of about 100 meters from the place of the accident? Was that an indication to anyone? Were there any other companions along with the accused in the other vehicle? The police themselves admit that even after finding the body stuck in the bumper of the car, the accused kept dragging the girl for several kilometers in that area. Did the accused want to ensure the death of the girl trapped in the bumper? So why not assume that it was not just an accident, but a well-planned murder?

At least 10 police vehicles, including a PCR van and a night patrolling unit, are said to have been deployed for chasing the accused. Out of these 10 vehicles, three PCR vans also tried to follow the car of the accused but could not continue to do so due to dense fog. Moreover, the accused managed to hoodwink the police by taking their car through narrow lanes instead of the main road. Now with such an argument, the security system which itself tries to avoid questions, what kind of protection it will give to women from dreaded criminals, can easily be understood.

It comes as no surprise when the National Crime Bureau (NCRB), a crime tracking body, ranks Delhi at number one in terms of crimes against women among all Union Territories. Not only this, Delhi accounts for 32.20 percent of the total cases of crime against women among the 19 metropolitan cities of the country. The rate of crimes against women in Delhi has increased by more than 1,000 annually in the last three years. According to the report, in the year 2021, an average of two rapes were registered every day in Delhi. The issue is not only of Delhi, there is a big question mark on women’s safety in the whole country today. According to the NCRB data, in the year 2012, the year when the Nirbhaya incident took place, 2,44,270 crimes against women were registered in the country. By the year 2021, this number has increased more than one and a half times to reach 4,28,278.

It is clear from this that the problem of violence against women has become so huge that only making strict laws will not work, but there is a need to understand its different aspects now. The problem has to be assessed in its totality, whether it is reforms at the level of society, proper upbringing of our juveniles and youth, training of police officers and policemen or ensuring proper participation of women in higher positions from police to courts. The way our youth are being brought up and educated and the way they are breaking law day in and day out, drinking alcohol at night and driving fast, it’s a matter of grave concern.

We have to understand that if there happens to be any compromise with the policy of Zero Tolerance on women’s safety, then cases like Nirbhaya, Kanjhawala will not be stopped. Any lapse should not be taken as a mistake, but those responsible for the lapse should be dealt with at the earliest and in the strictest manner. The method of dealing with it should also be such that this becoming an example gets difficult for the guilty as well as for the the countrymen to forget for a long time. Thus instead of being dragged for 13 kilometers in the future, this example will encourage to stop any such incident of vandalism at the very beginning itself.