Police sub inspector escorted a call centre employee to her home in Munirka as there was no security guard in her office cab
Police sub inspector escorted a call centre employee to her home in Munirka as there was no security guard in her office cab
He has set a precedent that other cops would do well to follow. Amit Bhardwaj a sub inspector (SI) posted with Malviya Nagar police station in south Delhi escorted a call centre employee to her home after he noticed that no security guard was present in her office cab.
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Unsafe trip
Comprehending the gravity of the matter the cab was intercepted by cops and the driver was interrogated. Vijay Kumar, the driver told the SI that he was taking the girl to office from her home in Munirka. Vijay seemed perturbed when the SI asked him about the absence of security guards and why he had picked up a female employee first instead of a male.u00a0u00a0
"What will you do if some armed assailants strike all of a sudden? The situation can prove far more dangerous for a female worker," Amit told the driver. The sub inspector then spoke to his SHO, Jarnail Singh and narrated the whole story to him. Amit was then asked by his senior to take the woman back to her home safely and to take action against the cab driver. Amit took two other cops with him and rushed the girl to her home in Munirka. They used the BPO cab for the trip.
Duty bound
"I only did my duty and what I was told by my senior. I would do this for anyone under such circumstances," said Amit and asked us to speak to his senior to gather more information on the case. According to the official the driver picked up the girl first instead of a male employee and there should have been at least one security guard inside the cab.
Behind bars: The cab driver was arrested by Malviya Nagar police. File pic
"The SI intercepted the cab. He talked to the occupants and came to know that they were from a call centre with their office in Okhla. Vijay Kumar, the driver of the Innova, was interrogated and it was revealed that despite police directives the call centre did not provide any security for its female employees," said the police.
White lie?
According to reports, to avoid arrest Vijay Kumar cooked up stories, claiming that he was supposed to pick up a male employee first but he was ill. "The girl was my next pickup. I am not at fault," the driver told the cops.u00a0u00a0 But he did not have any answer when he was asked about the absence of security guards. An FIR under section 188 of IPC was lodged against Vijay Kumar and he was arrested. "He was released on bail but the cab was seized. We are considering taking action against the BPO too as the company has violated security norms," stated the official.
The Other Side
When MiD DAY contacted the call centre, a representative spoke to us but refused to confirm the incident. He however said his HOD would speak to this reporter on the matter on Thursday.
Prime numbers
Last year saw a spurt in rape and molestation cases in the city. There were 489 rape incidents as against 459 in 2009. The figure for 2006 was 609, 581 for 2007 and 466 for 2008. There was a rise in molestation cases as well last year - from the previous year's 532 to 585. While 2008 had witnessed 597 cases, there were 835 such incidents in 2007. The rape per lakh population has shown an increase to 2.8 from last year's 2.65. The figure was 4.16 in 2005 and 3.82 in 2006, the highest in the last decade. Of the persons arrested for rape, 52 were relatives, 65 friends, 222 neighbours and 130 other known persons. In only 20 cases, rapes were committed by strangers. In molestation cases, neighbours were accused in 42% of the cases.
'Go easy'
Earlier this month, representatives of the BPO industry asked Delhi police to define night shifts, relax norms on door-step dropping of female employees and allow installation of GPS on call centre vehicles in a phased manner. City cops had made it mandatory for call centres, media and corporate houses to drop women employees at their houses during night hours and ensure a feedback of their reaching home through a telephone call, a step taken after the sensational abduction-cum-rape of a BPO employee on December 9 last year.At a meeting chaired by Police Commissioner B K Gupta, the industry leaders apprised him about the problems faced in implementing the order in "full spirit". The meeting was attended among others by NASSCOM chief Som Mittal, NASSCOM Vice President Raju Bhatnagar, senior officials of industry majors like IBM, HCL and American Express.
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