Homeless in Kolkata rub soot on faces of daughters to protect from sexual assault

Despite repeated outrage over crimes against women and debates over the subject, security of women and child in India remains a grave concern. As shocking stories of sexual abuse make headlines, homeless women in Kolkata are taking desperate measures to protect themselves and their daughters.

Women at shelter for the homeless in Kolkata say that while verbal violence is common, sleeping in the open makes girls and women more vulnerable to worse forms of assault. In a bid to protect their daughters from being taken away by drunken men while sleeping on the footpath, the homeless plaster their faces black with oil and soot.

Last year in August the case of a 12-year-old girl abducted from the pavements before being gangraped in a moving car and strangled to death made headlines. In 2012 the Supreme Court issued an order to build one shelter for 1 lakh people in cities due to incidents of violence against women and homeless people.

But a panel appointed by the apex court found that 90% of homeless people in urban areas don’t have shelters despite availability of funds and means to disburse them.