Women safety at risk as vacant buildings in city turn hub for criminals

Kochi: Is the city turning unsafe for women at night? The attempted rape of a woman at knifepoint near Ernakulam South railway station yet again exposed the unchecked camping of criminal elements in abandoned buildings in the city.The latest brutal crime follows a series of incidents reported this year in which criminal elements made use of the night's cover to perpetrate brutal offences. The attempted rape of the woman by a gang of three on May 5, comes weeks after a 23-year-old woman was brutally thrashed, sexually assaulted, and robbed in Kalamassery on March 15. Two weeks later, on March 29, a woman was sexually assaulted while returning home from work. She used pepper spray on the perpetrator to escape. On Feb 24, a 45-year-old woman was brutally beaten to death under Vyttila railway overbridge, and the body was placed on the railway track to make it look like a suicide. Following the incident in Kalamassery, city police planned to conduct inspections in dark spots and abandoned buildings. However, the same hardly materialised, allowing the continuation of anti-social elements camping in such spaces. On May 5, the crime occurred at a deserted building near the railway station. Around 9pm, the woman and a male friend entered the building to escape the rain and moved to the upper floor as the rain intensified. Police said the friends did not notice the accused drinking alcohol in the building. The accused followed them upstairs, assaulted the friend, threatened him with a knife, and attempted to rape the complainant. Two accused, Rahul, 39, of Kollam and Danish, 26, of Thiruvananthapuram, were arrested on Thursday. The prime accused, Sanjay Ullasan, 25, of Aroor, was arrested on Friday. When asked about this recurring issue, a senior officer with city police admitted that the demand for security arrangements affected the availability of officers in the past month and a series of special drives will be held in the coming weeks. "We are aware of the situation. We received information from the railway authorities that they will be installing CCTV cameras near such spots. Further action, including identifying such buildings and mapping anti-social elements present in the region, will be carried out soon," the officer said. City police commissioner Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar said the incident occurred at a deserted location, a building where a hotel used to function and which was later abandoned as it was involved in legal disputes. He added that initially, the complainant was not willing to proceed with the case. "Since it was a serious issue, we took quick action as soon as the issue came to our knowledge. An investigation team was formed, and with bare minimum clues, we worked out which antisocial elements were present in such areas and traced them," he said. He said the accused had been arrested in some theft cases, and action shall be taken to invoke Kaapa against them. "We are conducting additional patrolling in deserted areas which are in our knowledge. We can do patrolling and area domination to clear such areas," commissioner said.