september 7, 2013

Crime and Safety

Women will feel safe when the lawlessness of the powerful ceases.
nce again, the same question is being asked: how could this happen? The rape of a 22-year-old woman journalist by ve men in central Mumbai on 22 August has stirred up many of the same issues that were discussed after the gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi in December last year. This time the gang rape occurred in the early hours of the evening, near a busy railway station (although the site of the crime, the derelict Shakti Mills compound, is desolate). The woman was on a professional assignment with a male colleague in a part of Mumbai that is not remote and in a city with the reputation of being safe for women. Despite the horric assault, the young woman was conscious and had the courage to immediately report the crime. With her colleague, she described in detail what the assailants looked like and within days all ve were picked up. Since then, the ve suspects have admitted that they had previously raped a ragpicker and sex worker and molested a woman who had ventured into the area with her male friend. No one reported the crime. Hence, they presumed they would get away this time too. Clearly, even habitual offenders can be condent that crimes do not necessarily lead to punishment in this country. In both instances, in Delhi and Mumbai, the media drummed up demands for stronger punishment and better policing. Yet, the perception of safety by women is not linked only with law and policing, although these are important components. Effective laws implemented with rigour can certainly act as a deterrent and encourage the victims of crime to turn to the law with the condence that there will be justice. The converse is also true, that the abuse of effective laws and poor policing encourages lawlessness. Yet, there are crimes committed in countries with more effective policing than in India. So clearly, better law enforcement alone cannot make women feel safe. Womens sense of safety, particularly in an urban context, is inextricably linked to the way a city grows and organises its spaces. Mumbais safe reputation was largely a consequence of several signicant factors. Most important amongst these was the presence of a large working class population that included women workers. These citizens occupied a central part of the city, in fact in the area where this crime occurred. Women have been a part of Mumbais workforce for much longer than in
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other Indian cities. Their presence in the public space has been a visible and distinctive feature of the city. In terms of spatial organisation, most of Mumbai was characteristically mixed use mixed housing with different classes living in the same neighbourhood and a mix of residential and commercial buildings. That along with better street lighting and good public transport constituted a major part of the sense that the city was safe for women as they negotiated public spaces. By way of contrast, a city like Delhi was not so arranged and hence was considered unsafe by women. The Mumbai of today is losing these characteristics. The working class heart of Mumbai, its textile district, is now a schizophrenic amalgam of high-end shopping malls, residences and ofces towering over the remaining working class chawls. While inhabitants of the latter continue to conduct their lives in public spaces and on the street, the new upper-class residents operate out of gated enclaves, connecting with the city only when compelled to step out. Such a dramatic sociological shift, accompanied by a change in local politics now dominated by sectarianism, is bound to create tensions. Apart from such changes, the conduct of life in Mumbai has changed. In the past, the city was considered one of the more orderly in the country. People queued for buses, they obeyed trafc rules, etc. Today, even such minor illustrations of civicminded conduct have disappeared. From small violations to the blatant breaking of building and land development rules by the politically and economically powerful, Mumbai now showcases a culture of lawlessness and impunity. The inevitable consequence of this is the civic degradation that affects every section of the population and the diminished condence in the city as a safe space. As the Justice J S Verma Committee report pointed out, Failure of good governance is the obvious root cause for the current unsafe environment eroding the rule of law. The specics of Mumbai apart, it is undeniable that even if this city had not changed so much, it would not have remained immune to the increasing misogyny that manifests itself across India, not just in the worrying increase in violent crimes but the way women are viewed at all time. Hence, a young woman on a work assignment with a camera is seen not as a photojournalist but as a woman, out in the public space, and available. Similarly, a ragpicker doing her job is primarily a woman. Although separated 7

september 7, 2013

vol xlviII no 36

EDITORIALS

by class and profession, both are equally vulnerable. The difference is that an assault on the former stirs outrage, and can prod the lethargic law enforcement machinery into action, while the latter is ignored by media, the middle class and the police. This selective anger of the middle classes in our cities, amplied by an urban-centred media interested in covering selective

crimes, serves only a partial purpose of forcing a conversation on crimes against women. But it diminishes the publics understanding of why these crimes are increasing touching the lives of all women, not just those living in cities. And the incessant demand for an easy x exposes the inability of this urban middle class to comprehend the patriarchal roots of gendered violence.

september 7, 2013

vol xlviII no 36

EPW

Economic & Political Weekly