Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi: Recent reports are flushing in from Delhi were two women were allegedly molested inside the ITO metro station. A case was registered after she lodged a complaint with the Police.
The Video footage of a 25-year-old journalist who was descending down the stairs in the secluded corridor was assaulted by a drunken man has gone viral on social media.
Speaking of the incident, the journalist said, “I tried to fight him but he managed to escape. If there were any security personnel there, we would have managed to catch him. ‘
Though the journalist raised alarm no one could hear her and the accused managed to escape. She said the CISF officials who were posted at 300 meters away paid no heed to her cries.
The journalist in her complaint stated that a man in an inebriated state at first passed lewd comments at her when he found her descending down the stairs. The accused then reportedly touched her inappropriately. When she confronted him, he apologized to her but then groped her. The accused attacked and fled the scene when she fought back.
A similar incident was reported at station controller where another victim complaint about experiencing harassment the previous night.
After both, the incidents were reported the Police learned it was the same man who harassed these women in the corridor.
The accused was then arrested by Delhi Police on Thursday from his residence near the metro station.
Both CISF and Delhi Officials say that shortage of staff in the metro corridors is making women vulnerable to these crimes.
There are CCTV surveillance cameras in the station corridors (from the main entrance to security check) and the CISF currently relies on them to grab the criminals.
The officials say these corridors are often misused by the criminals for various crimes of molestation, eve-teasing and snatching incidents in these deserted spots.
As many as 17 cases of molestation have been filed by metro travelers this year.
A source said, “While CISF is looking after the security of the Delhi Metro, it is only deployed in and around the paid areas. That is near the baggage-checking machines and the metal detectors. But every now and then the CISF officials do a recce in the entire premises that include the jurisdiction till the main entrance/exit gate of the stations.”
Another official said, “There are more than 6,500 CISF officials deployed for metro security and around 7,000 CCTV cameras have been installed in and around the stations.”
Both Delhi Police and CISF officials have approached the Ministry of home affairs (MHA) for better security at these metro premises.
However, the MHA has not yet sanctioned any of the proposals said the source.
