Bengaluru: The arrest of two private security guards at Bengaluru’s Cubbon Park by the city police after they were accused of sexually assaulting a 35-year-old-woman has got the city scrutinising the issue of security again but this time city's alert youth seem to be circling around the men who provide them security.
"I am scared post 9.30 pm while coming home in my cab. Trust me I get scared despite the fact that I am lucky enough that nothing has happened to me," says 27-year-old Manisha from Patna who works at an IT firm in BTM Layout. Patna and her friend Arushi who is from Rajasthan have been staying in Koramangala for some time, shuttle from Koramangala to BTM Layout. "It is safe in Koramangala but the travel from our respective workplaces to Koramangala definitely keeps us on our toes. I avoid taking those private cabs and those buses back home," adds Arushi.
In a city of nearly one crore people, crime by "outsiders" seems to be the growing trend. Murders, theft, rapes and that too by security guards, who are hired for the very purpose of protection, are becoming common.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle about how lakhs of people come to Bengaluru for a living, but get hired for the job of security guards, Manisha recalls an incident. "I generally do not get dropped last but that night it just so happened that I was the last drop and there was no escort as well. My driver is not from this city he is from North and he was really protective and he ensured that I reached home safe. So, I would not say that it is the outsiders but the mentality that needs to be changed and laws should be improvised looking at these changing times," says Manisha.
In fact psychiatrists should study these rapists and paedophiles and try and give us insight into their minds and how and why they function like that," says Arushi who adds, "and laws should be made based on that. Times are changing and laws should be speedy and justice should be given faster. Rapists should be discouraged by harsher and stricter laws."
Background checks which are the norm for any MNC that is hiring its employees should be taken to the next step in cases of drivers, escorts and also bus conductors or cab guys, assert the city's youth. "It should be just like us, there are so many protocols that a private company follows before hiring employees and it should be the same for drivers and security guards and if you don't have any of the details you don't hire them," says Arushi.
"In fact there should be a psychiatric test as well for these people," says Manisha. In a city, where security for women is becoming a distant dream with every passing moment, private security companies need to beef up their hiring protocols.
"We cannot leave everything to the cops or to CCTVs. But we cannot also be scared of the fact that we might be assaulted or raped. Hence stricter guidelines from the Home Ministry's end and studies on the minds of such people might stop a lot of cases from happening," sums up Manisha.
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