O bserver Volume 14 | Issue 12 Tuesday, October 14, 2014 The Weekly One woman every hour assaulted on a Bangalore bus, admits BMTC A lmost 500 women a month are as- saulted on public buses, according to a new helpline. According to Bangalore Municipal Transport Cor- poration’s own statistics, 2,972 women were accosted on their buses in the first six months after the launch of the helpline. Shanta Das, BMTC Complaint Officer, said, “There has been a 28 % in- crease in eve teasing of women by conductors.” She added that no driver has been sacked but that five have been suspended. That means at least 25 women face harassment by staff every single day while using public transport. In a survey conducted last year by Bengaluru Bus Prayaanikara Vedike , a pas- senger forum, in 2012-13, of 2,647 women questioned in Bangalore, 1,803 cases of harassment in buses were reported. That means 69 per cent of the women re- ported being sexually ha- rassed on buses. Vulgar language, staring pointedly, physical attacks such as touching, feeling, grabbing, indecently expos- ing, stalking, photography or shooting videos without consent were the major forms of harassment, ac- cording to the survey. The launch of this helpline in April may have contributed to the spike, ac- cording to the BMTC. Most of the conductors harass women by inappro- priate behaviour while col- lecting the fares, according to complaints received. Eve teasing is punishable under Section 298 (A) and (B) of Indian Penal Code which prescribes up to three months of imprisonment for making obscene gestures or remarks to a woman. Section 354 (IPC) is for those who use force or as- sault a woman to outrage her modesty. Shanta added, “Most women do not complain thinking it is trivial but since the Nirbhaya case, there has been a change in approach.” In a horrific incident on December 16 last year, a paramedic student Delhi was raped repeatedly and mur- dered by a group of men. She added: “We have a three-tier complaint response system. The first step in- volves warning the alleged staff, followed by their sus- pension and then their ter- mination from service. So far only one case that has come up to me and there has been no conviction. We can’t take actions on our own.” Mrinali Ghosh, a regular commuter, said, “Once I asked for change and the conductor passed lewd com- ments.” Neha Shankar, a CA student said, “Often when the buses are crowded, the conductors makes way through the ladies section, making us feel uncomfort- able.” Govind, a conductor, said, “Not everybody is same. Sometimes things hap- pen because of the crowd. I don’t do anything inten- tionally.” Jayaprakash L, Joint Chief Security and Vigilance officer at BMTC, said, “There have been two incidents where we have suspended five of our staff this year so far.” In March one driver and two supervisors were sus- pended and in May one driv- er and conductor were sus- pended for a minimum pe- riod of six months. Soumya Chaerjee Underground workers remain hidden, afflicted by health issues Only 10 per cent of the people engaged in manual scavenging across the city are registered in govern- ment records. M. Venkatesh, State Pres- ident of the Dalit Bahujan Movement said: “In Ban- galore, there are around 2,000 people engaged in manual scavenging but only 202 have been registered by the state government. Two months ago, we submitted a report with 100 additional names of people to be reg- istered as manual scavengers but no action has been taken yet.” “Bodies like BBMP and BWSSB hire manual scav- engers through contractors but they don’t take their re- sponsibility. The reasons why a majority of them are not registered are because they would have to rehabil- itate them and enable schemes for their welfare,” added Venkatesh. The workers suffer from health issues like skin in- fections, asthma, kidney and liver problems, infertility, respiratory problems, repro- ductive tract infections, car- diac issues and blindness. Manimala, 33, who worked as a manual scav- enger for 10 years, said: “I have wheezing and thyroid. I faced liver damage, kidney failure, eye problems, Tu- berculosis and jaundice due to the work I did.” Akhila Vasan, 44, an ac- tivist with the People’s Health Movement in Ban- galore said: “Many of them depend on liquor for work- ing. No person in his senses can work in such stink and garbage.” (Continued on page 3) Shru Suresh Vinod, BMTC conductor Shanta Das, BMTC Complaint Officer A BBMP sweeper
One woman every hour assaulted on a Bangalore bus, admits BMTC
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ObserverVolume 14 | Issue 12 Tuesday, October 14, 2014
The Weekly
One woman every hour assaulted on a
Bangalore bus, admits BMTC
Almost 500 women
a month are as-
saulted on public
buses, according to a new
helpline.
According to Bangalore
Municipal Transport Cor-
poration’s own statistics,
2,972 women were accosted
on their buses in the first
six months after the launch
of the helpline.
Shanta Das, BMTC
Complaint Officer, said,
“There has been a 28 % in-
crease in eve teasing of
women by conductors.”
She added that no driver
has been sacked but that
five have been suspended.
That means at least 25
women face harassment by
staff every single day while
using public transport.
In a survey conducted
last year by Bengaluru Bus
Prayaanikara Vedike , a pas-
senger forum, in 2012-13,
of 2,647 women questioned
in Bangalore, 1,803 cases
of harassment in buses were
reported. That means 69
per cent of the women re-
ported being sexually ha-
rassed on buses.
Vulgar language, staring
pointedly, physical attacks
such as touching, feeling,
grabbing, indecently expos-
ing, stalking, photography
or shooting videos without
consent were the major
forms of harassment, ac-
cording to the survey.
The launch of this
helpline in April may have
contributed to the spike, ac-
cording to the BMTC.
Most of the conductors
harass women by inappro-
priate behaviour while col-
lecting the fares, according
to complaints received.
Eve teasing is punishable
under Section 298 (A) and
(B) of Indian Penal Code
which prescribes up to three
months of imprisonment
for making obscene gestures
or remarks to a woman.
Section 354 (IPC) is for
those who use force or as-
sault a woman to outrage
her modesty.
Shanta added, “Most
women do not complain
thinking it is trivial but since
the Nirbhaya case, there has
been a change in approach.”
In a horrific incident on
December 16 last year, a
paramedic student Delhi was
raped repeatedly and mur-
dered by a group of men.
She added: “We have a
three-tier complaint response
system. The first step in-
volves warning the alleged
staff, followed by their sus-
pension and then their ter-
mination from service. So
far only one case that has
come up to me and there
has been no conviction. We
can’t take actions on our
own.”
Mrinali Ghosh, a regular
commuter, said, “Once I
asked for change and the
conductor passed lewd com-
ments.” Neha Shankar, a
CA student said, “Often
when the buses are crowded,
the conductors makes way
through the ladies section,
making us feel uncomfort-
able.”
Govind, a conductor,
said, “Not everybody is
same. Sometimes things hap-
pen because of the crowd.
I don’t do anything inten-
tionally.”
Jayaprakash L, Joint Chief
Security and Vigilance officer
at BMTC, said, “There have
been two incidents where
we have suspended five of
our staff this year so far.”
In March one driver and
two supervisors were sus-
pended and in May one driv-
er and conductor were sus-
pended for a minimum pe-
riod of six months.
Soumya Chatterjee
Underground workers remain hidden, afflicted by health issues
Victoria Hospital, whichreceives around Rs. 31 lakhsper month, needs a sum ofat least Rs. 40 lakhs per dayfor medicines alone, accord-ing to hospital staff.
Rahamathulla, Medicinesin-charge at the BangaloreMedical College, responsiblefor allocation of funds, said:“The government dividesthe funds received by varioushospitals through us.”
“The funds allocated toVictoria Hospital are aroundRs. 3.75 crore per annumfor medicines and Rs. 1 crorefor medical equipment.Bowring Hospital receives3.7 crore for medicines andRs. 5.5 crore for medicalequipments.”
The lack of medicinesand equipment in govern-ment hospitals is forcingBelow Poverty Line (BPL)patients to turn to privatehospitals. They then losethe 50 per cent discountthey are entitled to.
Rahamathulla added,“Protocol says doctors work-ing in government hospitalsshould not suggest patientsto go to private centres fordiagnosis.”
Hospitals also lack med-icines in their stores. Abhi,son of patient Bhagyammain Victoria hospital, said:“Only one or two out of10 medicines were providedin this hospital. The restwere bought from othermedical shops and were cost-ly.”
He added, “I paid Rs.
2,500 for a biopsy gun formy mother as it was notprovided by the hospital.”
Raghu, a pharmacist atVictoria hospital, said: “Costof all medicines required bythe patients would be Rs.40 lakhs per day which thegovernment does not pro-vide us.”
Dr. Sharmista, a cardiol-ogist at Victoria Hospitalsaid, “We provide Comput-erized Tomography (CT)scan but we suggest our pa-tients to go out for MRIscans.”
Abhi said: “My motherwas taken for a blood scanto private centres as thishospital did not have scanfacilities.” The treatmentcost him Rs. 5000.
Mr Rahamathulla added:“Scanning centres in hospi-tals also work according totimings. During emergencies,patients have had to go toprivate diagnostic centres.”
Prakash, in charge of thescanning department at Vic-toria Hospital, claimed thatthere is no problem there.He added that patients whohave BPL cards are beinggiven 50 per cent discount.
Afshan, duty officer atAsian Diagnosis Centre, said:“About 40 to 50 patientscome here each day fromVictoria and Vanivilas Hos-pital of which three patientscome for MRI scans, whichcost Rs. 10,000.”
Dept of Forensic Medicine at Victoria Hospital
Suharika Rachavelpula
Abhi with a biopsy gun
C.L.Ramakrishnan
Unclaimed and forgotten: burying the dead at Rs. 30 a corpse