A new day brings new
headlines and it makes for very distressing reading. A minor girl raped by the
bus driver on Sunday night in Panjim while she came to the city for a Christmas
party with 13 other friends. This brought back to the fore the issue of safety
of women. Are women safe in Goa? A school girl was raped in Mormugao almost ten
years ago and till date the accused has been arrested. Others were arrested and
then released. In such a scenario how do women perceive their safety in Goa?
Jacifa
Fernandes, a student, said she never ever felt completely safe. Jacifa said, “I
travel from Sanquelim to Panjim and in the evenings I don’t feel safe. A lot
needs to be done to make women feel safe. I strongly believe the seats in the
bus for women should be for them only. It is not uncommon to find a man sitting
on them. Women are reluctant to approach the conductor or for that matter the
KTC who anyway does not care. We are fifty percent of the population and if a
percentage of that population feels insecure then there is a problem.” The
sensitivity of the subject can be gauged by the fact that a young woman who
experienced something traumatic was willing to only give her first name. Nabila
said the situation in Goa was much better than in other states. She said, “I
mostly feel safe because there are other people on the bus. I travel home by
bus after seven and once I had an experience which left me traumatised. The bus
was empty, bringing the driver and a passenger in the seat ahead of me. He was
doing something that one does in a private space. I was shocked and appalled.
There was no one I could approach. This happened three years ago when I was
18”.
The appointment of more
female conductors could make it safer for women travellers. Veda Kunkolkar who
is studying MSc at the Government college of Arts, Science and Commerce,
Sankhali said she travelled from Panjim everyday and the frequency was poor
which resulted in missed lectures and crowded buses with passengers sticking to
each other. She said “An increase in the number of lady conductors, or even
drivers for that matter, would make female passengers feel a bit safer”.
Another student felt a
ladies bus could help make women feel safer. Shamitha Shetty said “I travel to
and forth from Mapusa to Sanquelim for College and I haven’t experienced much
but it sometimes feels unsafe to travel by bus after 5 o’clock. I would suggest
some more precautions to be taken and also appoint some Lady Conductors. If
possible, we can have a Ladies Bus”.
The general feeling is
that Goa is safer than other states but then situations arise making women feel
unsafe. Nupura Hautamaki said, “The horrific incident that happened is just
shocking. And made especially more horrific by the fact that it was a driver
who was known to them, and drove their college bus regularly. As a woman, do I
feel unsafe in Goa? Most times I do not, but there definitely have been places
& situations wherein I have felt a little unsafe, even with my family or
friends around, so definitely more policing is required to ensure criminal
elements are kept in check or arrested etc”.
Savia Veigas, a writer
and someone who has not hesitated to talk about the problems faced by women,
said, “A quote from the Arthashastra says that when things go wrong in the
kingdom, the king is to blame for it. What is the government doing while such
heinous crimes are committed against women? We have had so many rapes of young
girls on beaches at shacks and other unimaginable places. Now it happens in the
capital right under the purview of the seat of government. The government is
busy creating circuses on uninaugurated bridges while daughters of the state
get raped in a bus. When a heist of this magnitude happens, the press raises
some slogans people discuss and it is soon forgotten. We need to have people
come out into the streets asking for justice, safety, better security and
stringent legislation against rape”.
Unless that happens, such situations will
keep happening.
