A group of at least 35 pourakarmikas had to run from pillar to post to get the city police to register a case against a garbage contractor who allegedly abused and assaulted them, not once but twice: first on October 13, followed by another attack on Thursday afternoon.
The contractor even threatened to rape them and flashed his private parts, the pourakarmikas claimed. It was only after the latest assault — where a pourakarmika was assaulted — that the police registered an FIR.
Devi, 29, a contract pourakarmika working for garbage contractor Nagesha at Devasandra, ward no. 55, recounted her ordeal with The Hindu: “On October 13, we approached our contractor seeking a pay of ₹12,500, as against ₹200 daily wages he was paying us, while drawing full salaries on our behalf from the BBMP. He abused us, hurled caste slurs and also spoke vulgarly with sexual innuendos. We complained to civic officials the very same day, who, in turn, alerted the K.R. Puram police. Our troubles began afresh then,” she said.
Mr. Nagesha allegedly turned up with a group of armed men on Diesel Shed Road, the mustering point in the ward at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
“The men were armed with iron rods and they assaulted one of us, Manjula, who has an injured hand. The contractor threatened us with rape and even sent his men chasing us. He used very vulgar language and even tried undressing himself before us,” Ms. Devi alleged.
As pourakarmikas again complained to the police, an FIR was registered but only after office-bearers of the BBMP Guttige Pourakarmikara Sangha went to the K.R. Puram police station to lend their support.
Maitreyi Krishnan of the Sangha said it was unacceptable how the local civic officials and the police sided with the contractor and delayed any case against him.
The K.R. Puram police have registered a case against Mr. Nagesha and three other men under Section 354 of IPC for outraging the modesty of women and under various sections of the SC and the ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. None of the accused, however, has been arrested yet.
Police Commissioner T. Sunil Kumar told The Hindu he would get a report from the DCP (East) on the allegations of delay in registering an FIR in the case and take stern action if any lapses were found.