22 September,2016 06:45 PM IST | | Faisal Tandel
Realising the stranger who groped her at Thane station went scot-free, teen offers to break FD to have CCTV fitted; wins fight with red-faced cops fitting camera this month
For Ruchika Kamble, the personal is political. She wants no woman to experience the trauma she did after being groped by a stranger at the western entrance of Thane railway station three months ago. Ruchika has since the May 2016 incident taken it upon herself to do her bit to make public spaces across the city safer for women.
Her relentless efforts to get a CCTV camera installed at the spot where she was assaulted has paid off. After allegedly hemming and hawing for months together, railway authorities finally set up a camera at the location on September 9.
Ruchika and her father Nitin Kamble, 45, say they made multiple requests to the railway and civic authorities to install a CCTV camera that would serve as a deterrent for potential criminals and help nab culprits who threaten the safety of women. They even wrote letters to the Prime Minister and ministers of state. As a last ditch effort, she offered to dip into her education fund to finance a camera at the spot, and told the police as much.
The ordeal
On the evening of May 31, the 16-year-old resident of Badlapur, who was returning home from college, was accosted by a man pretending to be a ticket checker on the SATIS (Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme) deck outside Thane station. "I was near the railway booking office when he asked me for my ticket. I showed him my First Class pass. But he insisted that I accompany him to the office of the chief ticket inspector," she recalls. The stranger then allegedly grabbed her hand and tried to drag her away as people watched. The plucky girl managed to escape his clutches and call her father for help. By the time Nitin arrived from their Mulund residence, the man had fled the spot.
Refusing to be cowered, Ruchika, along with her father, approached the Thane Government Railway Police and registered an FIR against the unidentified person under sections 170 (impersonating a public servant) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
Feeling helpless
Despite filing an FIR, the feeling of helplessness washed over the family. "When I reached the spot, I found no CCTV camera there. The police weren't cooperative either. The case was transferred to the Naupada police station on the grounds of jurisdiction," revealed Nitin (45), assistant foreman in the transportation engineering department at BEST's Ghatkopar depot.
Two months later, Ruchika and Nitin were called to the police station, but in the absence of leads on the stranger's identity, that a CCTV camera would have provided, the case was stuck.
Moved to action
Realising that her assault could be a talking point in the fight for women's safety in public spaces, the young girl shot off letters to the PM, the railway minister, the CM, the general manager of Central Railway, the Thane police commissioner, the civic commissioner and the district collector on June 5.
In her letters, Ruchika pointed out how the absence of a CCTV camera had let her assaulter go scot-free. She demanded that a camera near the booking office on the SATIS deck be fitted, as well as desolate spots across the city's public spaces.
She finally offered to contribute R25,000 from a fixed deposit her parents had locked as medical education fund. "As I followed up on my case, I found that the railway authorities and the municipal corporation were shifting blame, citing jurisdiction. That's why I offered to make a contribution," she says.
First victory
On September 9, the railways took a baby step towards ensuring women's safety, by installing a CCTV camera at the spot where Ruchika was assaulted. "I was trying to shake the authorities into taking action. This little victory proves that even the common man can make this city a better, safer place for all," says the young girl, wise beyond her years.
Police Speak
Dinesh Nair, Senior Police Inspector, Railway Police Force, Thane, confirmed that a CCTV camera was installed this month. "We have a railway booking office on the SATIS and hence, think it is a sensitive spot. The camera was installed for security reasons."
