At Alidada Compound in Kurla, women and girls think it is unsafe to step out of homes after dusk
Nothing in Alidada Compound, Kurla, is the same anymore. Children have stopped squealing and giggling, young girls are not dancing in the rains, mothers have stopped discussing the popular television soaps...
Fear has engulfed them all following the rape and murder of two minor girls in the compound and one more at the nearby Vatsalatai Nagar. Numbed by the blows, young minds have withdrawn into their shells.
Every young girl describes the gruesome crimes as ‘kaands’ (horrifying incident). Each one has been told by parents not to venture out of the house alone, not even to go to the community toilets.
“My mother escorts me everywhere,” Harshita Jaiswal, 6, said. She kept twitching her nose, trying to fathom the terror that had struck the neighbourhood. “No more are we allowed to play outside our homes. I do not like it this way,” she said, her innocent eyes reflecting her uneasiness.
Sketches of the alleged perpetrator, which the police have pasted on every wall in and around the area, have got etched into the young minds. Ismail Sheikh, uncle of Nusrat, one of the victims, said he had noticed children drawing the face of the “accused” on slates and walls. “It shows that the mysterious man is top most in their minds,” Sheikh said.
The neighbourhood has witnessed heightened police vigil for the past couple of weeks. Patrol parties are doing rounds, and cops in mufti have been posted, too.
“We lock our homes even if we have to step out of home for just five minutes,” Sushma Jaiswal said. Her daughter, Anjali, was allegedly abducted, raped and murdered by the “serial rapist” in March. “Every household is living in the dread of the devil striking again,” Sushma added.
After dusk, no women, particularly teenaged girls, step out of homes, unless there are male escorts with them. “We are all hoping that the police will soon solve the case and arrest the culprit. Life is getting difficult for us,” Rehana Khan, 17, who is studying Home Science at SNDT University, said.
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