Victimised & nowhere to go?

It is a harsh fact which has always been part of Delhi''s life. The recent rape of a student of the Maulana Azad Medical College has -- once again -- brought back to the limelight the alarming incidence of crime against women.
"It would be difficult to say whether the rate of crime has actually gone up, but with increasing awareness and investigations by the media, more and more cases of crime against women are coming to light," says National Commission for Women chairperson Purnima Advani, "At the same time, what is of grave concern is the rise in cases of rape and sexual harassment on college campuses."
The NCW, on its part, claims to have formulated a concrete plan to combat the problem of female students being assaulted physically and verbally."We have called for a meeting of all college principals and will focus on security. A safe environment is vital while pursuing education," says Advani.
But be it the college campus, the street or the home, crime against women continues to be on the rise. Figures available with the NCW, in turn, speak for themselves. Between January 1 and August 31, 2002, the number of dowry-harassment cases stands at 736, desertion cases at 304, property-related cases at 209, rape cases reported to the NCW at 132, and cases of alleged police apathy at 224. Figures furnished by the Delhi Police reveal that, if anything, crime against women has gone up over the past two years. While the number of rape cases registered in 2000 stood at 451, the figure went up to 477 in 2001. Corresponding figures for cruelty by in-laws rose from 982 in 2000 to 1158 in 2001.
Informs a senior official of the Delhi Police''s crime against women (CAW) cell, "Another plan involves posting a website through which women subjected to crime can lodge complaints on-line."
At the same time, women in distress can dial 3317004 to get in touch with a helpline. The official initiatives notwithstanding, safety still eludes women in this city. And it''s not someone, somewhere -- but everyone who is responsible for the state of affairs.