Visakhapatnam: Squads to curb eve-teasing sought

Visakhapatnam: Vizagites, including a few MLAs, have started demanding the police department to form exclusive squads to check eve-teasing in buses, near colleges, crowded places and tourist spots in Vizag city on the lines of SHE teams in Hyderabad. It’s not just road-side fellows, but also the students of various colleges who are indulging in eve-teasing. City bus stations on the outskirts and buses are where the women and girls, mostly came under the attack of eve-teasers and molesters.

Class-IX student K. Tanuja, 14, who was found dead under suspicious circumstances near Pendurthi in the city, has also highlighted the eve-teasing issue in the city. The locals said that as the girl was moving closely with a Dalit boy in the area, she came under severe attack of a few eve-teasers and molesters in the area. The cops are also suspecting the role of a few eve-teasers in connection with Tanuja’s death case.

It doesn’t mean since complaints on eve-teasing are less in Vizag when compared to others cities that eve-teasing is not rampant. Sometimes, girls and women avoid reporting such issues.

“Eve-teasing is high not only in Pendurthi but also a few other areas in the city and there is urgent need to set up special teams to arrest the eve-teasers and we will submit a representation to the city police chief to set up exclusive squads to check eve-teasing,” says Pendu-rthy MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy.  

Expressing displeasure over eve-teasing, tourists from West Bengal and Odisha, Aruna and Sabita Bisoi, said that some youngsters on bikes have been harassing the visitors with filthy words either in English or Hindi and sometimes they are trying to molest  them near Kailasagiri ropeway, Tenneti Park and MVP Colony in the city.  If police fails to address the issue, the eve-teasers will dent the image of Vizag and will affect the tourism industry, they added.

A senior police officer said that shortage of women cops in Vizag police commissionerate has hit hard in setting up special squads and SHE teams in the city. “We have been on the job to identify most vulnerable areas where eve-teasing is high to deploy teams to nab the eve-teasers and also to keep a watchful eye for the safety of women,” he said.