Kochi pazhae kochi alla — how proudly many of Kochi’s denizens say this when we speak of the infrastructure developments and modern amenities coming up in the bustling city. But the other (darker and uglier) side of the coin is the proportionate increase in crime rates, assaults and abuses on women and the rampant increase of drug users. The recent physical assault on mediaperson Aswini Dravid and her friend in an alleged case of road rage in the crowded Infopark area is still fresh.
Sometimes there is no provocation needed for events to unfold as the producer of Jacobinte Swargarajyam — Noble Thomas found out. An outing to see a film late at night in the multiplex of a prominent mall, bang in the heart of the city, turned out to be a nightmare for Noble and his wife Bonny Mary Mathew. A resident of Kochi for the past 20 years, Noble chose to take to Facebook to narrate his ordeal. He wrote, “When I took the car out of the mall to the main road, two men in an auto blocked our way.”
Finding things a little fishy, I took a U-turn and started driving towards a hotel nearby. The time was 1 am. When I noticed they were still following our car, I tried slowing down so that they would go ahead of us. But when I did that, they stopped the auto right behind my car. Now I figured things were getting more serious so I called up my brothers and drove towards the place where they were. On seeing them, the men in the auto fled from the scene.”
Like any law-abiding citizen with a lot of faith in the law, Noble went to the nearest police station where he was met by this response, “It’s so late in the night now. There is no point in going after them. Come tomorrow.” So Noble went there the next day when he was directed to “go to a different station, this doesn’t come under our circle.” Noble then went on to pull strings and it was when the higher authorities intervened that things started moving.
Talking about the state of affairs, Noble says, “They say relevant action is being taken and I am getting SMSes, but nothing solid has happened. As a commoner, what would be the course of action if I had not approached the higher authorities? It was a frustrating experience for me! What if it had been a couple on a bike? I had taken down the number of the auto, but the officers didn’t even note down that number. I even asked them to give a wireless message so that the auto could be tracked down but it fell on deaf ears and I was asked why I did not call up 100? I did call up 100 but it was busy throughout!” Noble also expressed his apprehensions about the city, “Kochi is turning out to be unsafe especially at night. There are several dark unlit corners which can be crime pockets.”
