Mumbai: A 20-year-old female student was allegedly raped by a coolie in a moving local train here on Wednesday evening sending shockwaves across the city. While the accused was nabbed within eight hours and presented before a city court on Thursday, the incident has made many question the safety parameters of Indian public transport, which is relied upon by female students.
Similar to the Mumbai local, the Delhi metro, which remains the most preferred mode of transport by students in the National Capital Region (NCR), has also come under scrutiny for its safety.
The Delhi government has time and time again expressed its ambition to make Delhi roads and rail transport more accessible and safer for women. Though the first coaches of the trains are reserved for women, with demands to make public transport free of cost for female students finding support, questions remain if these measures are enough.
Various cases of sexual harassment have plagued the famed metro over the years. Just last year, a victim of sexual harassment at Jor Bagh metro station recalled an incident from June 2022 wherein a man stood in front of her on the station platform asking for directions and exposed himself to her. Similarly, in April 2023, Rajesh Kumar Koli (26) was arrested by the Delhi police on charges of molestation of a woman inside the Jasola Apollo metro station’s lift as she alleged that the man, who was standing behind her in lift number 4, made his private parts touch hers.
Despite the Delhi metro being considered one of the ‘safest’ options for women in the city, the transport system has only manifested itself as the lesser evil. The countless unreported cases of sexual harassment by female students shared across peer groups and through social media are an indication of this.
One can take into account the countless examples of such incidents relayed by Delhi University students, on social media platforms, who have shared their experiences of spotting men walking towards them while masturbating, pressing their crotch against women’s buttocks, and touching them inappropriately while standing inside the metro.
The incidents occur so frequently that one thinks that public transport, which was popularised to increase inclusivity and provide ease to college goers, is giving a gender disadvantage to the students.
The author is a third-year student from Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University pursuing her BA History Hons.
