One of the curious replies that the TT question prompted indicated that women in official positions or professionals felt most secure and obviously found it difficult to believe that other women could feel insecure.
The two Sangeetas, one a deputy superintendent of police and the other a practising lawyer at the Sakchi civil court, both felt that women are possibly more secure in Jamshedpur than elsewhere. Added Sangeeta Jha, the lawyer, “Women are safe when they move in a group and they are also safe during the daytime. But during night, they feel insecure that is why women hesitate to work on night shifts.”
Societal sanction, she felt, was not there for women to go out during the night. “If a women is seen on the street late in the night, people take it otherwise. There is a social stigma attached to it,” she said.
The reaction of Sangeeta Kumari, DSP, was not very different. “When it comes to the steel city, women are safe, be it on the street, college or workplace; I have been posted in the city for the last three months and I have seen women walking with confidence during night,” she said.
However, women are not safe on trains, especially while travelling during night. “If a women is travelling alone, she feels insecure in a train. Therefore, you will find very few cases where a single woman travels during night. There is always someone to accompany her while travelling,” she said.
Eve-teasing is far too common a problem for the police to tackle, she said dismissively. First, it is rampant and second, it is to be found everywhere. A cancer in the society, eve-teasing could only be tackled if women are empowered, she felt.
But even in Jamshedpur, school and college-going girls do not feel secure and feel utterly humiliated as they are subjected to lewd comments and indecent behaviour.
“Hoodlums are a common sight in the vicinity of the colleges, and wait for the dismissal time when they not only make obscene gestures and passes but also at times get cheeky enough to tug at the dupatta or snatch away the purses,” says Swagatama Ghosh, a Part II student of Jamshedpur Women’s College.
She goes on to add that it has now become a routine and is a serious concern for the girl students. “I feel there is no security in the city. We feel extremely insecure after stepping out of the college campus,” she says.
Archana Sharma, a Class XII student of a leading city school, too expresses her apprehensions regarding moving alone on the streets.
“I drive a two-wheeler, and eve-teasers zooming past and passing vulgar comments has become very common now,” she complains.
The administrative secretary of the All India Women’s Conference, Kanchan Singh, puts the subject in perspective when she points out that the women elite are generally safe and secure; officials are undoubtedly so but generally women belonging to the middle classes bear the brunt of the men’s loutish behaviour. There are exceptions, as in the case of the American tourist’s gang-rape in Ghatsila, which merely prove the rule, she says.
