Women in India on New Year: Let It Be Safe Please

With the end of 2017 and the beginning of the new year 2018, women have definitely made an impact in 2017. The movements, social media awareness, numerous achievers in all walks of life and more importantly the several women issues ardently raised and debated made 2017 a fairly good year for women. Having stepped into 2018, there is one definite thing that no women would want to hear on the very first day of 2018: “Women harassed during New Year’s Eve party”.

While 2017 was celebrated world over as a year where women surely stepped up and proved their mettle, we definitely want to celebrate 2018 as a year where the society as a whole stepped up and respected women

The first week of the year 2017 began with the horrific incident in Bangalore where women were harassed, groped and mass molested on the New Year’s Eve party.  “A night of shame” was flashing across tickers and printed in newspapers. Women were fighting for their basic safety on the day of the new year while the rest of the hooligans were enjoying the night. It was unfortunate that the police could not handle the situation and the government officials blaming women for aping western culture and saying that “such things happen” over the incident. This year, women surely don’t want any such thing to happen nor do they want any officials to do moral policing.

Women should not have to fight for basic rights like safety

While 2017 was celebrated world over as a year where women surely stepped up and proved their mettle, we definitely want to celebrate 2018 as a year where the society as a whole stepped up and proved their mettle by learning from the past year’s horrific incident. Simran Khosla, a sophomore from Delhi university mentions that this year everybody hopes for a smooth and a happy new year rather than being glued to the TV to discuss and debate about another horrific incident. “I am honestly done with these cases where the men nor the society seems to understand that they should let women alone, behave like humans and not like animals. The direct impact of such incidents is only on women where they are denied welcoming the new year like the rest. Not everyone can step out as such instances make it even harder for parents to let their children go. I hope this time it has improved and probably next year many of us would be allowed to go out and enjoy”, says Simran.

I am honestly done with these cases where the men nor the society seems to understand that they should let women alone, behave like humans and not like animals - DU Student

Nitika Yadav, another student from Delhi mentions that women and men are at par and are equal in this generation. “New year is for everyone to celebrate. It’s ridiculous not to care if men party but create a ruckus if women do and criticize them for aping the best. In the 21st century, we live in a global village and it’s impossible not to have an exchange of ideas and culture. People in abroad enjoy Indian food and celebrate our festivals. That’s the world we live in. Women are equal to men and I don’t think why women’s party going nature is usually under the radar but it’s of no use as we have definitely moved forward and will not pay any attention to such comments by whosoever!”, says Nitika.

Security was stepped up across India to ensure the New Year's Eve goes off well, let's hope we make this a norm for everyday

This New Year Day’s Eve, officials were geared up to tighten the security. Mumbai police had provided special protection for women in crowded areas. Over 30,000 police were deployed. Security measures were taken in Berlin as well, where a “Safe zone for women” was allotted to ensure no cases of harassment happens. While officials had assured measures to prevent any mishap, various women while speaking with Shethepeople.TV mentioned similar precautions that they had taken to avoid any problem. Most of them mentioned that nothing could stop them from enjoying but precautions like carrying pepper spray, having emergency message and number’s setting on and returning back home with their respective groups were taken.

Till now it’s been a smooth transition to 2018 and hoping that we don’t definitely hear things that we don’t want to hear on the very beginning of a new year