Sexual harassment victims must file complaint, not just play tweet game

Ladies the next time a pervert harasses you dont just stop at naming and shaming them on Twitter and tagging Mumbai Police If you really want the culprit to pay file a complaint with the police Otherwise the cops cant do a thing to helpTracking down victims has become even harder than finding the perpetrators due to citizens reluctance come forward and file an FIR Unfortunately thats how most perpetrators get away mdash in the last two months the cops received 20odd complaints on their Twitter handle MumbaiPolice but only six survivors went on to lodge a case after much persuasionThe city police are quite active on Twitter and usually respond promptly when tagged But more often than not cops hit a wall when they try to reach out to the survivor to register an FIR and start the investigationPic for representationGetty imagesAs recently as Wednesday a fashion stylist tagged Mumbai Police on Twitter complaining that her Uber driver was masturbating in the car The cops responded swiftly asking her to share details of the incident via direct messages Police sources said She shared the vehicle number with us and we have traced the driver but we are waiting for her to file an official complaint so we can move ahead with the investigation She is yet to lodge an FIRIn yet another case on November 1 a professor with one of top schools in BKC tweeted to the cops about her Uber driver harassing and abusing her Despite several reminders by the police she never turned up to register a case at the police stationAshmita JaggiWhy they hesitateAnother victim who complained on Twitter on November 1 about a kaalipeeli driver using abusive language told this reporter You know how our system works it takes years and years to get justice in simple cases At least now with social media we can voice our complaints and shame the culprits I think thats enough I do not want myself to get entangled in legal issues thats why I didnt file an FIRIn some cases the police take suo motu action and apprehend suspects when they sense danger to the complainant but this ends in awkwardness for the cops when the victim refuses to file a complaintWe treat each and every complaint received on Twitter as a priority but sometimes in sensitive cases involving molestation stalking cyber fraud etc people complain to us but are reluctant to file a case This results in embarrassment for us if we have already traced the accused But we have a dedicated team that keeps following up with victims encouraging them to register a case Otherwise our hands are tied and we cant act said a copSuccess storiesOn November 17 a journalist tweeted to Mumbai Police about three unidentified people stalking her in Andheri Within hours all three accused were picked up by the police but the survivor wasnt willing to go to the police station and file a case Later the cops sent a team of female officers to persuade her to file an official complaint without which they would not be able to hold the accused eventually the woman agreed and the accused were arrestedIn a similar case a day later TV actress Ashmita Jaggi shared a video of two people abusing her in a parking row As per the location shared by her Amboli police officers PI Daya Nayak and API Kalamkar swung into action Within hours they had tracked down the accused traced but the complainant wasnt ready to file an FIR It was only after two days of coaxing that she agreed to register a complaint and the cops arrested the accused under Sections 509 outraging modesty 427 causing mischief 34 common intention of the IPCJaggi recalled Even I was scared at first But the cops approach was positive so I filed the FIR and the accused were arrested What I did notice however was that it takes a lot of time my case was so simple but it took more than eight hours to register the FIR This is why victims dont respond to the polices requests to file a complaintMumbai Police also get Twitter complaints about cyber fraud and banking scams Once again only a few turn up to file officials complaints Traffic complaints are forwarded to the traffic copsOfficialspeakDCP Manjunath Shinge Mumbai Police spokesperson said As per the Code of Criminal Procedure CrPC the complainant has to file an FIR before we can investigate a case If there is no complaint the entire criminal justice system will not work Sometimes in such cases it becomes very difficult for us to go ahead with the investigation Whenever you see a crime please come to us file a complaint We will ensure that action is taken on priorityCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates