Midnight blues on city streets

Sample this. Shruti (name changed) was driving down EM Bypass to her home in Salt Lake with two girlfriends around 1.30 am after a binge at a night club. Suddenly, she felt that two guys in a car were following them. “We were desperately looking for a cop, but not a policeman was in sight,� complained this 22 year old.
She managed to call home and her brother came around with another car and escorted them back safely.
Even as the city parties late, this could be the plight of any party hopper on the roads of Kolkata post 1 am, and the police it seems has it’s eyes shut as far as this aspect of safety goes. “In the whole stretch between bridge No. 4 near Park Circus and Salt Lake stadium, there is just one police mobile van, and that car is always parked in one place, they never make the rounds to see if anyone is in trouble,� complains Joy, a regular party person who lives in Salt Lake.
The scene is worse beyond Ruby Hospital where for the whole stretch till Clown Town there is never a police picket and hardly ever a police patrol. “Even when we return at midnight, which is early considering party standards, we feel scared even as we see groups of guys drinking openly on the road with no one to book them,� said Subho Shah, who lives near SRFTI.
The scene is not too happy within the city either with no cop or police van in sight. However, many party goers insist that the cops crop up to harass them more than provide help. “We had dropped a friend at her home on Rawdon Street around 2 am and was waiting for her doorman to open the gate when two cops came up and started asking us all kinds of questions, they were insistent that we go to the police station with them,� said Rohini Mitra.
The police, however, have their guards on. “Even if one can’t find the police van, all one has to do is dial 100 and help will be at hand,� said deputy commissioner, traffic, M.K. Singh, adding, “We have standing instructions to our men that they will not question women, because most of them feel intimidated.�
himika.chaudhuri@timesgroup.com