Stay home to avoid rape: Gujarat traffic police’s safety drive posters draw ire

AHMEDABAD, Aug 2: Posters allegedly sponsored by the Ahmedabad traffic police for a safety campaign have stirred up a controversy, as some of them urged women to stay home to avoid getting raped.
The posters, which were pasted in a few localities in the city, have invited criticism from the opposition, which raised questions about women’s safety in Gujarat.
Posters with statements, “do not attend late night parties, you could be raped or gangraped,” and “do not go with your friend to dark, isolated areas, what if she is raped or gangraped?” were pasted on road dividers in Sola and Chandlodia areas and have since been removed.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic West), Neeta Desai clarified that the city traffic police had sponsored posters concerning road safety, not women’s safety.
Satarkta Group, an NGO, had created the controversial posters without the consent of the traffic police, she claimed.
“The NGO had approached us and said they wanted to organise traffic awareness programmes in schools and colleges and wanted our staff to accompany them.
We were shown posters related to traffic awareness. But such controversial posters were not shown to us and were plastered without our consent,” Desai said.
She added that the posters were immediately removed when the issue was brought to their notice.
Gujarat Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took a swipe at the BJP-led government, saying the posters exposed the state of women’s safety. (PTI)