Spotlight Kolkata: Crime against women

Asia's largest red light area proved dangerous for a young college student, who narrowly avoided being abducted a few nights ago.

The young college going girl -- barely 23 years of age -- left home at Khardah in North 24-Parganas of Kolkata on Saturday night, not knowing that she would soon be targeted by young would-be abductors of Sonagachi.

Sonagachi is notoriously Asia’s largest Red Light Area.

Luckily for the student, Traffic Police officer Ranabir Das was on duty near Sovabazar Metro at 10 PM, as part of the government's drunk driving campaign, Safe-Drive-Save-Life, as the Times of India reports. He heard a girl scream and rushed into a dimly lit alley, reportedly brandishing his weapon.

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He was able to rescue the student, who has been reunited with her family. Her assailants, however, are still at large.

“We are really proud of Ranabir and his selfless effort, no one dares to enter that locality without a written complaint,” a senior officer of Lalbazaar Police headquarters said exclusively to Shethepeople.TV, on condition of anonymity.

Over the past few years, the state of West Bengal has come under criticism for inadequate infrastructure, when it comes to tackling crime against women. According to the National Crime Records Bureau data (2014), the state reported the second highest number of crimes committed against women, coming after Uttar Pradesh.

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Quoting from that report: "Uttar Pradesh with 16.8% share of country’s women population has reported nearly 11.4% of total crimes committed against women at all India level, by reporting 38,467 cases and West Bengal accounting for nearly 7.5% of the country’s women population, has accounted for 11.3% of total cases of crimes against women in the country by reporting 38,299 cases during the year 2014."

Feature Image Credit: meri-k.org