Even after the gruesome Bengaluru incident made headlines last year, where a woman was attacked inside an unguarded ATM kiosk, the city hasn’t seriously weighed the gravity of the issue.
Rini Biswas was recently confronted by few men at an ATM kiosk.
She says, “On December 31, I went to the ATM I regularly use. The security guard was missing and the door was wide open. When I was done with my second transaction, two men entered and one of them stood a foot away from me.
“I asked him what he wanted. He said that they wanted to use the machine. I told him there were two more ATMs in the kiosk. I also told him to wait outside for some time. But he didn’t move.
“I confronted him about watching my transactions, and that it’s against the rules. ‘Ma’am, you don’t know the rules. You are not supposed to make multiple transactions’ he replied.”
“The next few minutes were bewildering. Three more men got into the ATM, and started arguing. They insisted that I was at fault. I asked them, if they even knew what the issue was. They said ‘We don’t care. You stop arguing’.
“I then stormed into the bank to complain; only to get angrier. When I told the security in-charge of what happened at the ATM kiosk, he said ‘That’s impossible.’ I took the matter up with the branch manager, who verified my claims with the CCTV footage.
“I was then told that the security guard might have stepped out for lunch. What came next was even more ridiculous: ‘Why did you not bring that man into the bank?’ the branch manager asked!”
“How could I have dragged a 6-foot-tall man?” asks Rini. She is convinced that the management was trying to hush up the matter.
ATM?Tips
Remove helmets, veils or masks before entering the ATM facility.
There shouldn’t be a gathering of people inside.
There are no hard and fast rules about when the security personnel can intervene. If he finds something suspicious or is prompted by people waiting outside, he can intervene.
Stand close to the ATM machine and use your body and hand to shield the keypad as you enter the PIN.
The number of transactions that a person can make in one swipe varies from bank to bank.
