Missing respect for women

ALLAHABAD: For all the high pitched concerns raised by various women organisations and citizens, precious little has been done at the ground level to check the menace of eve-teasing which has assumed alarming proportions. As an obvious fallout, it is increasingly becoming difficult for women to travel in public transport or move on roads. Often girls have to bear with derisive comments passed at them.
Advocate and social activist K K Roy says, "The Constitution has made it a matter of principle that inculcates equality of men and women yet this is found missing in practice."
The term eve-teasing has come to stand for staring, pinching, stalking, hooting, singing with sexual undertones and flashing objects. It is a clear case of sexual violation but most women prefer to ignore it. "Many of them are advised to dress modestly to avoid it outside and come home on time,"said Anushka, a research scholar. She recalled with disgust how the moral police fanned out in city parks and restaurants on Valentine's Day and openly misbehaved with girls with little or virtually no resistance from onlookers.
"In market places in the city, no girl can pass alone through the roads without inviting lewd remarks," rues Bhavya, a college lecturer. "No woman, whatever be her age, will be spared. Then imagine their plight at night or after dusk has fallen," questioned Aradhana, an office goer.
It is no big secret that the police do not take eve-teasing incidents seriously. Eve-teasing is so common that the police are terrified of the flood of complaints they might receive if they did register the complaints, argues Roy.
Under the circumstances, would blaming the Bollywood be a fair idea? Television star Pawan Shankar prefers to differ. "It is said that films reflect society and not the other way round. Well, something is wrong with our society then," he quips. Films will only influence only those who are susceptible. It's like blaming television for the increasing violence in society, he says.
Psychiatrists in the city when asked about whether violent behaviour and television viewing was related, opined that it was the home environment which mattered the most. But then, anyone who lives in the fantasy world of Bollywood will lose all sense of reality. He will fail to see that his favourite heroes on celluloid behave differently in real life, say experts.
Another point put across by Suchitra Goel, a clinical psychologist, explains the point. As far as eve-teasers are concerned - they come from a background where they are taught that women who go out are bad and deserve to be teased. Or that women don't mind it. Or that eve-teasing is a harmless activity -- a way to get to talk to a pretty girl. These men could have also seen men in their own families treat women with scant respect, says Goel.
Amit Philips, a contractor by profession who has been born and brought up in Allahabad said, "I think the problem with the city is that it has few residents who can call it their own. The immigrant population is gradually increasing with every passing day." Amit said policing is a very basic solution. "You will see these eve-teasers on almost every corner but the moment police start nabbing some of them, they disappear. Constant policing is must," he pointed out.
Besides, large scale programmes need to be carried out by social organisations to sensitise boys who are prone to such behaviour, said Professor Yogeshwar Tiwari of Allahabad University. Men themselves should tell their friends who tend to tease girls that such behaviour is unacceptable. They should try to stop their friends from indulging in eve-teasing,'' Prof Tiwari suggested.
POLICE VIEW:
Acknowledging that the menace of eve-teasing has indeed assumed alarming proportions, IG Allahabad range S K Shukla and DIG Allahabad B P Tripathi informed that the police have taken a very serious view and initiated some remedial measures.
In addition to the already existing fleet of police gypsies, a special team headed by a lady sub-inspector (Anita Singh Chauhan) has been constituted which would maintain a vigil at vantage points in Civil Lines, Colonelganj, Kydganj, Kotwali and Daraganj. Offenders would be booked immediately and with the passage of time once the message is clear that rowdies have no place on city roads, the situation would improve automatically. The officers also urged the citizens to inform the police about places where lumpen elements create trouble.