Many Jigs You Saw Add To The Puzzle

For decades, the vicinity around Bangalore바카라�s arterial MG Road was its entertainment lifeline as well. Then, in the 1980s, on these same thoroughfares was born the city바카라�s modern reputation as a pub town. It바카라�s these very streets where the season바카라�s revelry the other week hit a crescendo and then dived into a low note, leaving some stark realities, plenty of debate and much common sense which have all now distilled down to the question: 바카라�Why is a woman to blame always?바카라�

We probably need to rewind this narrative a bit, back into the early 1970s, perhaps, to a time when there were fewer restaura­nts and bars on this high street. Old-timers recall that Kwality restaurant on Brigade Road would have a New Year바카라�s Eve ball and so would 3 Aces, a short walk round the corner on MG Road (both the establishm­ents are now just memories). Round about midnight, people would stop by to have a look-see, taking in the season바카라�s cheer. 바카라�I don바카라�t remember it as a very big crowd,바카라� rec­ounts Mohammed Hassan from behind counter of his steakhouse The Only Place, one of the few iconic restaurants that바카라�s still open today. 바카라�It never was a craze like this.바카라�

As musician Konarak Reddy puts it, lots of people on the street knew each other and they바카라�d wish each other. It was largely polite and innocent, as some recall, and things, well, could also get a bit spirited as some others would reminisce. You would see a beer-bottle crashing down, or a minor dust-up in what was predominantly a male crowd on the streets, but none of it caught too much attention those days. In the years since Y2K turned Bangalore aro­und, however, you바카라�d get to see bigger, raucous crowds that many would generally avoid. And, of course, a bit of caning by the police, closer to pack-up time just after midnight.

What then led to those unruly scenes in Bangalore on New Year바카라�s eve when these narrow streets were packed with revellers and acc­ounts emerged of women being molested, harassed and reduced to tears? Was it a policing problem? 바카라�Well, yes and no,바카라� says Kalpana Kannabiran, director of Hydera­bad think-tank Council for Social Develo­pment. 바카라�I바카라�m actually very shocked because it also is an indication of how low we바카라�ve fallen, isn바카라�t it, in terms of dignity. Of course, it is a policing issue. For me, it바카라�s also a much deeper, ethical issue. Is it safer for women on the streets if we remove men from the streets is not the point.바카라�

A week later, the police in Bangalore have registered several FIRs based on newspaper write-ups and social-media posts of women being molested, but say they have not found evidence on CCTV cameras that could be of help in investigations. (A horrific molestation incident caught on camera in another locality was probed and a group of local boys arrested.) Neither are people approaching them with information. 바카라�Women don바카라�t complain because the first thing is they are not believed,바카라� says Dona Fernandes of Vimochana, one of the women바카라�s organisations that have been holding demonstrations and candlelight vigils in the past week. 바카라�Disbelief is the first thing that puts off women from complaining. Even now, they are being told molestation didn바카라�t happen. If it didn바카라�t, why were so many women on TV channels speaking live and telling us what happened?바카라�

A January 12 David Guetta concert was called off at the eleventh hour; the Grammy-winning French DJ-songwriter was to begin his four-city India tour from Banga­lore. The effects of New Year revelry this time seem to be cascading.

There바카라�s an unmistakable sense of frustration over repeated incidents of women being harassed on streets from across the country, and why nothing ever changes. 바카라�As a woman I can tell you, I바카라�m willing to understand there are limitations to what reparations can actually be offered, but you aren바카라�t even moving a small step,바카라� says Kannabiran. 바카라�I hate it when people say why are women out because I want them to be out and I want them to be safe, right?바카라�

Then there바카라�s the often-heard argument about a rapidly growing, multicultural urban sprawl coping with change바카라�too fast, too soon. Just as you바카라�d hear well-meaning advice about venturing into a crowd, whether it바카라�s street gathering or a festival procession. 바카라�Bangalore has had a problem of very rapid growth, but that is no excuse for hooliganism and ill-treating of women,바카라� says retired bureaucrat Chiranjiv Singh. He was posted in Paris in 1998, and remembers walking through the street celebrations on the night France won the football World Cup. 바카라�We walked from one end of Champs Elysees to the other, just taking in the festive atmosphere. Believe me, not once was my personal space violated in that crowd. No one bumped into anyone else. So why is it that when a crowd gathers here, we are unable to behave in a civilised manner?바카라�

Part of the answer, as former police officer and writer Vibuti Narain Rai puts it, is that many 바카라�Indias바카라� exist together at the same time. 바카라�A large section has moved forward and a very large section has been left behind. So, that conflict is always going on,바카라� he says. Women have every right to wear what they want and move freely and the police naturally will have to take the blame for these situations because ultimately it is their job, he says. 바카라�You can think of Germany where a similar thing happened and it was obvious바카라�a clash of two value systems.바카라�

R.K. Raghavan, former CBI director, in a recent comment piece, cited the arguments of Prof David Bayley바카라�s paper 바카라�Complexities of 21st Century Policing바카라� as being relevant for police in India. 바카라�For a variety of reasons, respect for law and the need for civilised behaviour in public have declined in most parts of the world, including the West,바카라� he told Outlook. 바카라�This is why police professionalism has had to redesign itself on the basis of a need for rigour and a sterner res­ponse to deviance. In current times, the police have to be necessarily harsh.바카라�

But, he also points out, the community expects too much from an under-equipped and under-resourced police. 바카라�When they fail바카라�which is often바카라�the police look for excuses and various alibis. This explains their criticism of women for their alleged lack of care in dress and circumspection,바카라� says Raghavan. 바카라�And to take the stance that police alone are responsible for protecting women is preposterous. The police have huge limitations in terms of manpower and equipment and this is why self-policing is of paramount importance.바카라�

However, the conversation we need to have, as Kannabiran reckons, is how non-negotiable it is for men to step back and to claim responsibility. 바카라�Willy nilly, what happened with the gender sensitisation programmes is that you had extremely well-intentioned people, but nothing on non-negotiability,바카라� she says. 바카라�How does this incident in Bangalore diminish the collective dignity of urban men living in Bangalore across ages? Are you even seeing it as a collective issue for which you are responsible, if you don바카라�t speak up?바카라�