Security becomes major concern for girl students in south Delhi

It was 5 in the evening, when a second year student of Gargi College was waiting for an auto outside her campus, a motorcycle stopped right in front of her and the man riding on it said "how much will you charge for one night". This kind of street harassment is not new for girl students of south Delhi but for Vaishali (name changed) it was the first experience.

"I was literally shaking. It was my first tryst with street harassment," she said.
According to a recent study by Jagori, a women's organisation, Delhi ranks as the fourth least safe city in the world in terms of women's safety. It accounts approximately 21 per cent of all crimes against women despite having less than 1.4 per cent of Indian population.

A safety audit conducted by the organisation along LSR, Gargi and Kamala Nehru College, states that the parameter of crowd in these areas have been rated average, however, the gender diversity was found to be below average i.e very few women use these areas post-sunset. In fact the visibility (eyes-on-the-street) and Security (Police and Private) have been rated below normal.
Several incidents of street harassment have been reported from areas around Lady Sri Ram, Kamala Nehru and Gargi College and PG accommodations close to them.
"It was 3 in the afternoon, I was walking to my pg which is near to Moolchand metro station, when I realised that someone was following me. I looked back and saw a man with his pants unbuttoned," a 20-year-old Lady Sri Ram College said while narrating her horrific experience of street harassment.

"I screamed and ran as fast as I could. I couldn't summon courage to report this incident. I know police asks disgusting questions when you go to report such incidents," she said.
Another shocking case of harassment told by a 21-year-old student of Lady Sri Ram College, who lives in a pg in the heart of south Delhi Greater Kailash, "there is a balcony on the backside of our PG. Whenever we used to go there a middle-aged man, lives in an apartment opposite to ours, would come in his balcony and masturbate".
"Initially we did not realise that we are being harassed but when we noticed this happening quite often we informed our PG owners about this. Unfortunately nothing happened and instead we were being told not to stand in balcony," she said.

Over priced PGs still no safety guaranteed

Various Paying Guest (PG) accommodations, charging hefty rents, have failed to provide security to their girls. A recent incident of a drunkard entering in a PG in Amar Colony has sent shiver down in the spines people specifically women.
On September 8, a third year LSR student returned to her PG and found a drunk man standing in her kitchen with his pants down and exposing himself.
"He intended to rape me. Though I managed to push him away, when I checked the CCTV footage he was standing outside the door of my room and waiting for me to come out," she said.
According to the girl, the incident did not shake her as much as the callousness of PG owners did, "they no only asked me not to file a complaint but also called that pervert a 'bachha" (juvenile), who was high on alcohol and therefore did so".

"Delhi University should team up with the Delhi police and make a list of PGs having adequate security arrangements. If it is impossible for the University to provide hostel for all they can at least suggest the students good PGs to live in," Kalpana Vishwanath of Jagori said.

Who is accountable?, ask RWAs and Organizations.

"Who is responsible for all these nasty incidents? police, government, universities or PG owners? Who will take the responsibility for the safety of girls," asks Sandeep Bali, President RWA (Mehrauli). said.
There is a reason why Delhi is known as the rape capital of India. Government should take immediate efforts to ensure security to the girl students specifically those who have come to Delhi , he said.
We always promote self-defense training programmes for girls so that they don't need anyone for their safety, Bali said.
"It is very important to have open discussions on gender issues at home. We, as senior citizens, are trying to create awareness about gender issues by encouraging people to discuss them with their children. We are trying to ensure safety to our girls," JR Gupta, president senior citizen council of Delhi, said.

 ​Pinjra Tod, a campaign against discriminatory rules for women, has also staged protests against lack of hostels for girls in Delhi University and stagnant rules for girl at PGs.
Adequate security measures have been taken, say police
"We recently had a meeting with several PG owners in the area and briefed them about the necessary security measures to be taken," DCP (south-east) Romil Baniya said.
He said that they have made a Whatsapp group "Delhi police PG help" to provide immediate help to the girls in need.
"We have made a team of women police officers along with the beat staff to ensure safety to the girl living in areas near to LSR, Gargi and Kamala Nehru college," the DCP said.