The death of 82-year-old Kamalamma in Mahalakshmi Layout on May 27 and 54-year-old Geethamma in Janatha Colony in Bannerghatta on June 2, within one week has raised safety concerns about home-alone women, especially elderly women in the Bengaluru. Even though the police have cracked both cases within a few days, the safety concerns they have raised persist.
A closer study of the two cases reveals that both victims owned properties, lived alone away from their families and had valuables at home. Even though the family of the victims visited them and kept in touch with them regularly, the victims used to depend on neighbours and acquaintances for errands.
Visiting house for repairs
Kamalamma, was a resident of Mahalakshmipuram. She was living alone after the death of her husband, Nagaraju, last October. Her three married children stayed in different parts of the city.
Police who cracked the case found that the prime accused was a plumber who often visited Kamalamma’s house for repairs and replacement of bathroom fittings and gained her trust. During his visit, the accused learned about Kamalamma’s belongings, background and routine, which helped him plot the murder to rob her valuables with his associates.
Getting money from ATMs
Similarly, in the case of Geethamma, the prime accused among the seven-member gang that robbed and killed her was her tenant, who used to do odd jobs for Geethamma, including getting her money from a nearby ATM using her card and PIN. The accused learned that Geethamma’s two daughters were married and settled and tried to take over her property and killed her brutally when she refused.
Even as almost every police chief reiterates that women’s safety is their top priority, providing foolproof security for home-alone women is a challenging task, says a senior police officer. “Home-alone women, especially elderly women living alone, being susceptible to crimes for gain, is a very peculiar problem exacerbated by a lack of community spirit and urban loneliness,” a senior official said.
Police protection
Though the city has many provisions for women’s safety, they seem to have very few takers.
According to a senior police officer in the city, the city and the district police forces have a provision to provide security cover to women living alone based on a request placed by them or their family members. Under this scheme, the jurisdictional police officer will be tasked with going and checking on the person during his patrolling duty. This can be done only if the police are informed, and a request is raised.
Few takers
However, most citizens are unaware of the availability of such a facility, and even among those who know of this, there are hardly any takers for many reasons.
To cite a recent example, a city-based software engineer had to visit the United States of America for work, leaving behind his mother alone at home for two weeks. He approached the jurisdictional police requesting them to keep visiting her often for a fortnight until he is back.
The patrol teams started visiting her twice a day and sometimes more depending upon their beat. This caused inconvenience for the senior citizen, who had to come out of the house every time to respond to police personnel to convey that everything was fine, that she called her son and asked him to withdraw the request.
“There are many safety measures we can put in place to provide safety for women and children in particular. But we expect some reciprocation from the members of the general public too to make the city a safer place,” a senior police officer said.
Focused patrolling
However, concerned about the murder of Geethamma in Bannerghatta, the Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru Rural District, Mallaikarjuna Baladandi, has directed the patrolling teams to visit houses of home-alone women during their beat in general, irrespective of whether they have raised a request for the same or not.
The jurisdictional police officials have been asked to gather details of the senior citizens living alone through their sources and focus on them, he said. Eleven in Mahalakshmi Layout, where Kamalamma was killed, the beat policemen have been asked to step up vigil and check on the people living alone in their respective beats.
Hello Neighbour
However, since it’s not practical for the police to keep a watch on every home-alone woman 24/7, the police are relying on the community policing initiative “Hello Neighbour” to act as a force multiplier.
Under the initiative, neighbours have been asked to check on their neighbourhoods, especially home-alone women following these incidents, and get in touch with the beat police through WhatsApp to exchange information, if any.
Mahalakshmi Layout Police claimed that Kamalamma’s murder was discovered due to the robust Hello Neighbour initiative, as one of the neighbours checked on Kamalamma and alerted the police.
CCTV cameras
Apart from this, the police are now appealing to citizens, especially home-alone women and elderly living alone, to install CCTV cameras and burglar alarms at their houses, with a panic button handy. However, a senior officer lamented there are not many takers for the same.
The city police have also taken up an awareness campaign through beat police informing people, especially senior citizens, not to entertain any strangers and to not open doors to them. They have been asked to call 112 for help, and the Hoysala vehicle usually rushes to the spot in less than 8 minutes.
Safe City Project
Apart from this, there are many provisions, including “Pink Hoysala”, an exclusive patrolling vehicle for women, and Suraksha App, which provides a panic button to raise the alarm at the control room, triggering an emergency response, to provide security, safety or assistance for women in distress. The app was launched in 2017.
In March this year, Union Home Minister Amith Shah inaugurated Phase 1 of the Safe City Project, under which the city police have installed around 30 Emergency Call Boxes or Emergency Panic Buttons in vulnerable areas in the city.
Despite all these efforts, availing of these facilities is still challenging for senior citizens and doubtful whether they will come in handy in the nick of time.
