Separate buses for women. Why not? By » [ Irfan Tramboo] First 8 seats are reserved for ladies reads a message pasted on almost in all mini buses plying across the valley. In a dominant Muslim society, there was no need for such message but in the modern circumstances it became imperative to aware people about the importance of respecting a woman. This message is read by all ‘educated’ men while travelling and is acted upon by no one. It isn’t just an advertisement it is a clear memorandum that our women too have a dignified place in our society. Most of these reserved seats remain occupied by men forcing the women to face humiliation while they are surrounded by hoards of men in an over-crowded bus. I have seen how disgusting a situation becomes when we see our women caught between the ‘preying’ men in a mini bus. I recently saw a female in her twenties caught in huddle by three men. In no time these three men started behaving indecently, in fact started harassing her. Looking at my physical capability, I desisted from a fight with them; however, my glare full of disgust scared them away from that poor soul. In the meantime, the lady somehow managed to grab a nearby vacant seat and got rid of those ‘beasts.’ We have our female college and school students, employees and others women travelling in buses and the incidents of eve teasing, sometimes harassment, in buses has increased alarmingly. Ironically, most of the men see this happening around them but they seldom react in such a situation. The situation has become so ugly for our women that they mostly prefer preferring to reach their respective destination either by foot or in their personal vehicles. Such an ugly situation raises many questions and points out the ineffective role played by both the society and the authorities. Today it was the sister or wife of Mr. ‘A’ who was harassed; tomorrow it can be my sister, my wife or my mother. As discussed, ‘officially’ there are 8 seats reserved for women in every minibus. How genuine is this reservation. What if these seats are occupied by women only, what about the rest of women who board the bus? Can’t we have more than eight ladies travelling in the bus? Even if we do, is there any assurance that our sisters and mothers won’t face the humiliation and harassment which has become a norm in these mini-buses. The only solution possible is that separate bus services should be run for women on all the major city routes initially as an experiment which, later on, can become a routine and can be extended to the various other routes of the valley. We can have additional buses meant only for the ladies. This concept, if implemented, can ease up this otherwise a harassing travel for our ladies. Though an innovation, this step can be serve as a benchmark and will set an example of safety and respect to women in Kashmir. For its implementation, we don’t have to wait the government to analyze the issue and form a committee to study it; in that case it will take a decade to resolve such a problem. We have the solution and its implementation should not take much time. For this, the local transport companies should take up the job and offer such type of bus service in the city in its initial stage, which will be exclusively dedicated to women. It is can be expected that the response to this exclusive service will be good and these transport companies (if they will take up the job) will have no hesitation in expanding this ‘female exclusive bus service’ to other parts of the valley. If this arrangement becomes a reality, our women will feel secure while travelling to any part of the valley. The writer can be reached at irfantramboo@gmail
Posted on: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 12:12:54 +0000