Parents don’t want us to work late: Tales from the victim’s locality

It’s dusk, and the women will soon retreat indoors, while the men of Mahavir Enclave have just begun warming up in front of bonfires outside their shops and homes (File)

Holding a bag close to her body, 18-year-old Sweetie Singh scurries past momo vendors, phone recharge shops and groups of boys, avoids eye contact, and takes a swift left to enter her gali in Mahavir Enclave, Dwarka. It’s almost 5.30 pm on Friday, and she needs to be home before her parents get worried.

Two lanes away from Singh’s house lived the Delhi 2012 gangrape victim, with her parents and two younger brothers. “Things have gotten worse for us women, parents worry so much, they want us home before it’s dark. They don’t want me to take up a job that requires me to stay out late. I understand their concern… I don’t feel safe anywhere in this city,” she said.

It’s dusk, and the women will soon retreat indoors, while the men of Mahavir Enclave have just begun warming up in front of bonfires outside their shops and homes. The lane that leads up to the victim’s house is dimly lit and narrow.
“After what happened with her, my husband won’t let me go out late, not even for a walk. He tries to scare me saying, ‘remember what happened to her when she was out at night’. Sometimes, men on the road threaten us saying they will do to us, what they did to her,” 27-year-old Guddi, a neighbour, said.

Relatives of the victim now live in her old house. “We are five sisters and we are fearless. Didi’s mother has told us to be that way, to not be scared, to defend ourselves, to file a complaint if something wrong happens. She tells us that it is not about ‘izzat’, that we are no lesser than the boys,” said one of the women, 19-year-old Reena.

A lane away, inside a beauty parlour sits Shoma (35), Baby (21) and Neelam (50). “I am scared of even stepping out of my house once it’s dark. There are no CCTV cameras here, drunk men roam around and the streetlights don’t always work. There is also no police presence. Recently, at about 9 pm, I was catcalled my random men in front of my husband and child,” Shoma said.

For 25-year-old Anjana, a housewife, even a quick run to the chemist’s after the sun sets is a gruelling exercise. “I am so scared something will happen to me… If I do go out alone at night and something happens, I feel it will be my fault. It’s what society has taught me. No one is doing anything to make this city safe for us anyway,” she said.