Bullying, abuse by co-passengers on the rise
SHILLONG: Women commuters in the city are often harassed or abused by co-passengers in local taxis and several incidents have come to light in the last few days.
On Saturday evening, a male passenger in a local taxi at Motphran abused a 24-year-old woman. Her fault was that she refused to get into a conversation with the stranger.
While her co-passengers, one of them a woman, remained silent spectators, the driver resisted to the barrage of abuses that the young man was hurling at the woman.
Another woman who did not wish to be identified recalled a similar experience when a male passenger was desperately trying to talk to her even though she was not keen to talk. She said the episode took place on Saturday afternoon when she was going to Police Bazar from Laitumkhrah with her old mother.
“I told the person that I am not interested in talking to him but he insisted that I should share my contact with him,” the women said, adding that such situations are very common nowadays in local taxis of Shillong, especially in the evening.
Most of these cases of harassment and bullying go unreported. Earlier on January 31, a woman was molested by an unknown person inside a local taxi while she was on her way from Fire Brigade to Laitkor.
Speaking on the matter, East Khasi Hills SP M. Kharkrang said victims should immediately report the matter to police so that action can be taken against such passengers and if required even against drivers.
Sometimes, male passengers take advantage of crowded vehicles but despite several police advisories, passengers do not speak against drivers taking extra passengers, said the SP.SP (City) Vivek Syiem said victims who face such situation should immediately call up the Police Control Room (2222277/2215427) and share the details of the vehicle and the place where the incident took place and follow it up with a formal police complaint. With such instance on the rise, many also feel that awareness should be created among passengers and especially local taxi drivers to take a stand when women are bullied and abused in their vehicles.