Hyderabad: Women complainants turning to social media forums after failing to obtain proper response from the police have been increasing of late.
Every other day, one or the other groups in Facebook, has one such post related to inaction of the cops where the other members of the forum try to help the woman in contacting higher-ups or some NGOs. Recently, Antara Dey, a fashion designer from the city, approached Narsingi PS with a complaint about sexual harassment, rape and attempt to murder against an acquaintance. However, after being dissatisfied with the response from the cops, she resorted to posting about it on Facebook.
“The complaint I had lodged was about attempt to rape and murder and when I saw the FIR, the charges levelled weren’t appropriate. I had filed on July 8 and the cops were not very cooperative initially. After I posted about this on Facebook, someone suggested that I speak to Sunitha Krishnan of Prajwala,” said Antara.
Antara states that after a call to Ms Sunitha Krishnan, who contacted higher-ups, the CI was very cooperative and supportive. The case was lodged on July 8 and the accused was arrested on July 14. “I am thankful to him for arresting the accused and finally lodging the case appropriately,” she said. “However, on July 9, Satish, attempted to threaten me again by visiting my house and that could have been avoided if police had responded promptly,” she added.
Responding to this, Narsingi Inspector Ramchander Rao said that “It took us four hours to trace where the victim was housed when this incident took place. We inquired and the accused has been arrested and it is a very strong case booked under IPC 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 307 (attempt to murder), 342 (Punishment for wrongful confinement).”
Prior to this, there was a 24-year old girl who was rescued with the help of social media not more than a month ago.
The girl had added in the post that dialling 100 didn’t bring any succour as the cops had allegedly advised her to “listen to the family.” Speaking about the inaction, Women’s Commission Chairperson Tripurana Venkataratnam said that not just the social media platforms, the number of complaints they receive about inaction are increasing and that she will approach the DGPs to talk about sensitization sessions.
