Shas­tri Boodan

Po­lice should stop treat­ing women with con­tempt when they make re­ports.

This point was un­der­scored by Cou­va South MP Rudranath In­dar­sigh when he ad­dressed a vig­il at Cal­cut­ta Set­tle­ment #1, Freeport on Sun­day. In­dars­ingh said he was ap­pealed when he read the news­pa­per on Sun­day on­ly to learn that a woman was ridiculed and chased by the po­lice when she went to make a re­port against one of the men who al­leged­ly killed An­drea Bharatt.

He said “Had they tak­en her se­ri­ous­ly, maybe An­drea may have been alive to­day.”

In­dars­ingh said he has re­ceived many com­plaints from con­stituents that they had been ill-treat­ed by the po­lice. He said any­one who feels they were mis­treat­ed by the po­lice should vis­it his of­fice and the nec­es­sary com­plaints would be lodged.

Residents of Calcutta Settlement #1 take part in a vigil on Sunday night.

Shastri Boodan

In­dars­ingh said un­less the at­ti­tude of some po­lice change no amount of ve­hi­cles, tech­nol­o­gy or laws would cre­ate any im­prove­ment. He said women and every­one must be tak­en se­ri­ous­ly when they make a re­port. Han­nah Mo­hammed, a crime vic­tim echoed the sen­ti­ments of In­dars­ingh, She said women feel that they are be­ing ridiculed and laugh at when they talk.

“We don’t feel our voic­es are be­ing heard.”

Mo­hammed said she was urged by mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty to make a call for change. Oth­er women who at­tend­ed the vig­il told Guardian Me­dia that po­lice be­have in an ar­ro­gant dis­mis­sive man­ner when­ev­er they go with a com­plaint. She said po­lice treat mem­bers of the pub­lic as if they are both­er­ing them when they go to the sta­tion.