New Delhi: Six months back, 15-year-old Maya's (name changed) life was full of fun and frolic just like any other school-going girl. Then one day, while on the way to school, she was stalked by a group of guys who started hurling comments and abuses at her.
As this harassment continued for several days, Maya's scared parents stopped her from going to school and did not even allow her to venture out of her home. Today, she is virtually under 'house arrest' for no fault of hers.
Her parents are a worried lot as repeated complaints to the police have not yielded any result so far. As such Maya, who was a student of class 8 of Rajakiya Sarvodaya Vidyalay in Khanpur area, was forced to drop out from the school.
"The problem started in August 2010 when a local goon Sripal started following my daughter. He often passed vulgar comments at my daughter while she used to be on her way to school. Fearing that any harm might come to her, we stopped her from attending the school. We lodged a complaint with the police but they didn't take any action. The situation worsened and the stalkers continued to harass her even after she dropped out from the school. Whenever she used to go out of the house, they troubled her repeatedly," said Ram Kumar (name changed) father of the victim.
Kumar again lodged a complaint against his daughter's stalkers in October but police still remained inactive. "The inaction of cops has encouraged the stalkers further. Right from the day my father lodged a complaint against them, they became more abusive towards me. Whenever they see me out of the house, they start chasing me and pass vulgar comments. At times they even tried to molest me. The whole colony watched their act but nobody came to my rescue," said the victim.
Besides Kumar's complaint, there is another complaint lodged against these accused for eve-teasing and use of vulgar language. Still the police seem to prefer inaction on the issue. When contacted by MiD DAY, the police officials said that they will be able to comment after they investigate the case.
Residents of the area say the accused operate as a gang and often indulge in such unlawful activities in the Lal Kuan area of Pul Prahladpur area.
Help at hand
Even as rape and molestation cases in the Capital showed an increase in 2010, the Delhi police plans to take several steps to make the city safer for women, prominent among them will be recruiting more women in the force.
Police Commissioner BK Gupta said that all Police Control Room (PCR) vans have directed to help stranded women at night and women in distress can dial 100 and get dropped to the nearest safe spot. PCR vans with women officers have also been deployed around women's colleges and schools, he added.
Not a minor issue
A few unidentified boys allegedly eve-teased a student in Lajpat Nagar area on December 29. Following the incident, a clash broke out between the residents of the area in which five boys were injured. Police said the victim, a resident of Nehru Nagar Colony was returning home after attending her tuition classes when some boys in the area passed lewd comments at her. The victim went home and told her parents about the matter. Her neighbours also came to know about the incident and decided to confront the boys.
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