by Vanessa Brown: ——
Seeing the last few crimes against women we cannot say that women are safe in India. Women generally feel frightened while going alone outside from their home. Woman safety in India is a very big concern nowadays which has been a most important topic regarding women safety. It is a very sad reality of the country that it’s women citizens are living with fear all the time.
Women are harassed not only in the night or evening but also in the day time at the their home, working place, or the other places like streets, club etc. It is found through the survey that the reason of sexual harassment is the lack of gender-friendly environment and improper functional infrastructure such as consumption of alcohol and drugs in open area, lack of adequate lighting, safe public toilets, sidewalks, lack of effective police service, lack of properly working helpline numbers etc.
Likewise, security and safety for women in Assam exposes as very poor. Many incidents took place in last one month and the crimes against women are increasing day by day. Two recent incidents took place within 24 hours, a student of the Assam Agricultural University in Jorhat was found dead in a toilet of the Kamakhya Express on Tuesday morning while the body of another was found in a toilet of the Avadh-Assam Express on Wednesday. According to the police both the victims were killed in a similar fashion. A few weeks back, a female journalist was harassed in a lady’s compartment in Nalbari district.
Assam government revealed in the last February that 29,223 incidents of violence against women were reported from various against women were reported from various parts of the state in past two years. Since April 2016, 1786 people have been arrested in 3009 rape case filed in the different police stations.
Measures taken by Assam Government are not enough to stop crimes against women. Equally Railway Department is responsible for incidents that recently took place on the moving train. Most of the measures promised and taken by the government are failed or incomplete. In the wake of increasing crimes against women Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal launched “181 Sakhi” the toll-free number for women.
But it is claimed that the number do not respond when a women ring up to get rid of a situation in danger. According to the safety for women becomes a major concern among people but the government has not been taking the problem seriously. According to the available data, between 2005 & 2014 in Assam, around 60,000 women were raped, around 1400 killed for dowry and over 120 lynched in a name of witch-hunt. This is the government data which was submitted in the state assembly in 2015.
In this 21st century, women should not be trapped because of all this crimes going on they should get enough safety and security so that they can fulfill their dreams and make their future bright.
Author Vanessa Brown is a young journalist based in Guwahati, Assam
