In Baiganwadi slum, there is a virtual curfew every night!

In Baiganwadi slum, there is a virtual curfew every night!

FPJ BureauUpdated: Saturday, June 01, 2019, 07:14 AM IST
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Mumbai : Women in Baiganwadi slum of Govandi, where a 11-year-old girl was raped, blame the cops for insecurity as they forcibly shut down all shops, except liquor vends, at 10 pm.

A year ago when the shops used to remain open till midnight, the area used to be bustling with activity. “We felt safe and could go out and return home late in the night. Now, the whole area becomes dark and quiet and we cannot get out at all,” said Hajra Khan, a housewife.

This closing down of shops early has encouraged drug addicts and peddlers to loiter in that area and harass the residents. “Men who come late from work do not get autorickshaws from the station. If someone is walking, the drug addicts hide in autorickshaws parked on the road and rob people of their money and mobiles and snatch chains,” Hajra added.

Previously, all the lanes of the area used to be crowded with vegetable vendors till midnight. But now as the shutters go down, people remain inside their houses and close their doors.

 “Neither do we have a police chowky nor does the police carry out a round-up of the area. They only come to close down shops and the police station is a 10-minute rickshaw ride away,” Hajra said.

 Not only during the night, drug addicts haunt Baiganwadi even during daytime. All public washrooms meant for women are their haunts where they consume drugs. “Every time a young girl walks in or comes out of the washroom they eve tease her. They know that women are timid and won’t fight back,” said another resident Ayesha Shaikh.

 When asked about why the police is carrying out this drive, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Dhananjay Kamalakar said that he will look into the matter and find out why it is happening. With regards to the drug addicts in the area he said, “Since February there has already been a crackdown going on against drug addicts and peddlers. We have started a drive against them focussing on Shivaji Nagar on Tuesday evening and expect to get results by Wednesday.”

Since most of the couples there are working, their children are often left home alone. While the deceased child’s mother, Hajima Mateen now fears for her 17-year-old daughter’s safety, the neighbours too are taking precautions to protect their children.

The deceased’s immediate neighbour, Kamrunissa Khan does not let her teenaged daughters out of the house alone. “I don’t even send them to the public washroom alone now, that particularly being the most unsafe area,” said Kamrunissa.

The police on the other hand claimed to have cracked the case with an arrest made at 9.30 pm, which was confirmed by the local deputy commissioner, Sangramsingh Nishandar. Though the police refused to reveal the identity of the accused or the incident’s details, according to sources, the accused is a tailor in the neighbourhood to whom the girl had gone to visit on Saturday at 5 pm to get a piece of cloth stitched.

 “He took her inside his house out of which he operates his tailoring business, sexually assaulted her and then strangulated her,” said the source. The girl’s body was later located by the police on Saturday midnight 15 minutes away from her house in a garbage bin.

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