03 December,2010 07:18 AM IST | | Sudeshna Chowdhury
Known as a city, which never sleeps, Mumbai has always been a safe haven for women. Be it working late in the night or travelling alone in the wee hours of the morning, women in Mumbai feel that the spirit of the city can be truly captured in just one word - bindaas.
Moumita Bhattacharya, 26-year-old media professional who had stayed three years in Delhi and is currently working in Mumbai feels that here security is not a concern at all.
Ladies celebrate in a local train compartment as motorwoman Priti Kumari drives the local train from Churchgate to Borivali
"Mumbai is a lot more safer than Delhi. I can just go out anywhere in the middle of the night. I feel safe and absolutely carefree," she says. "In Delhi, groping is more of a culture and passing lewd comments is almost second nature," adds an upset Bhattacharya.
She recollects an incident where one of her friends was groped in a public place.
"Girls in Delhi have accepted this sort of behaviour. You ask anybody and they would say, "Arre chalo, yeh to hoga hi. So groping is more of a norm there," she further adds.
For Ashprit Sethi, travelling in Delhi buses is an everyday ordeal. "On the bus, people see your clothes and pass comments like, "dekho kaise kapde pehna hai. My friends in buses have been manhandled and touched in wrong places so many times," says Sethi who has just moved to Delhi after staying in Mumbai for almost two years. "Mumbai as a city for women, be it work or just travelling is a lot safer," she adds.
Reha Rewal (22), who works in an event management company and frequently travels between the two cities also echoes a similar sentiment. "You go to a marketplace in Delhi and the way they stare at you, you feel almost naked. Above that you have lewd comments which are unacceptable," says Rewal.
"In Delhi I have a 7 pm deadline. I have to think twice before going out after 7 pm in the night or I have to ask somebody to pick me up. Whereas in Mumbai, I will not think twice before taking a cab and coming late in the night," explains Rewal.
But Somya Lakhani, 21-year-old media professional has had some bitter experiences in the city. Lakhani who recently moved from Delhi to Mumbai for work was groped by a cab driver in South Mumbai.
"I was travelling with my friend in a cab. The driver was driving very recklessly. I asked him to stop and as soon as I got ready to pay him the money, he groped me after getting out of the cab. My friend and I were about to hit him, but he disappeared," she recollects.
For somebody like Lakhani who has had similar experiences in both cities, Mumbai still scores above Delhi. "The city is definitely safe but the reason is not the mentality of the people in the two different places.
The main reason is late night travel in Mumbai are easier and comfortable for women because of the transport system which is so efficient unlike say in Delhi," she explains.
FIGURES
According to Praja Foundation, a Mumbai-based Non-governmental Organisation (NGO), approximately one murder and one woman is raped in Mumbai every two days.
The figures were obtained on the basis of RTI applications and are for the years 2008-2009 and 2009 to 2010. "We filed RTIs at various police stations and got the FIR reports from them on the basis of which we have compiled the report," says Nitai Mehta, managing trustee, Praja Foundation.
"The city is safe if you compare it to many other cities in India but if you see it individually then the number of molestation of women cases have increased over the last two years," adds Mehta.
