No takers for government’s free self-defence camp for women in Gurgaon

With increasing instances of crimes against women in Gurgaon and Haryana, the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs of the state government organised free-of-cost self-defence camps across all cities in the state in the first week of January. However, despite regular calls for such camps and classes by Gurgaon women in the past, the Gurgaon camp at Ajit Stadium saw not even a single woman turn up for registration in the first four days of the camp. Mahender Singh, judo coach at Ajit Stadium, says, "This was supposed to be a free self-defence camp for women. We had been instructed by the sports department to conduct the camp in the first week of January as a statewide exercise to promote self-defence techniques for women in Haryana. However, nobody turned up to register for it."


Women from the Millennium City say that although they liked the idea of a state-sponsored and run self-defence camp for them, there were a number of factors that deterred them from registering for it, including the far-off location and the weather.
Girls from the city say that one of the main reasons for their disinterest in the camp is the location. Ajit Stadium in Sector 104 is a good 45 minutes from any of the major residential clusters of Gurgaon. "Ajit Stadium is too far from any of the main sectors and quite desolate too. They should have held it at Leisure Valley Park or Tau Devi Lal Stadium instead. Then, I would have definitely gone," says Sapna Arora, a college student from Sector 21. Manika Dhingra, an IT professional, adds, "It is even beyond the rural Gurgaon areas, which makes it unsafe and quite a task to travel to that place for just a self-defence camp. It would be quite ironic and scary if one got molested or mugged while on way to a self-defence camp." Another reason that many women in the city say deters them from registering for the camp is the cold weather. Rani Sharma, a college student from Sector 54, elaborates, "January is the coldest month of the year and this week in particular has been quite chilly. At such a time, it is not possible for us to go out and enroll in a self-defence camp during evening hours."

Officials, however, say that the choice of location and time was done after careful consideration and could not be altered for Gurgaon as this is a statewide exercise. "The camp is part of a statewide exercise and similar initiatives are running in other cities of the state too, so we could not have changed the dates. Since most coaches for judo and karate are at this stadium, it was chosen for the camp," says an official from the sports department.