On 16 December 2015, it will be three years since the horrific Nirbhaya incident. Ever since the incident, there have been a lot of debates for women empowerment and security. The onus of women’s safety, despite talk of stricter policing and providing more CCTV cameras, is still on them.
There have been repeated incidents of women being sexually harassed, even assaulted, in Delhi’s cabs. Why is this happening? What is the attitude of the average cabbie towards the women he ferries? Are Delhi’s women safe when they step into the confines of a cab? As part of our #NoMoreNirbhaya campaign, here is a peek inside the mind of one such cab driver.
On hidden camera, The Quint’s Aaqib Raza Khan recorded his conversation with a number of cab drivers in Delhi. This may shock you, but it is typical of a society which still believes women must not ‘overstep certain boundaries’.
This is a Quint Investigation.
‘Knock Knock, Who’s There?’ – Misogyny
Let’s face it – misogyny is everywhere.
The Nirbhaya gangrape convict said the victim was equally responsible for her rape, because she had no business hitching a bus ride at 9 in the night.
They wear jeans and t-shirts.. put their youth on display…of course rapes will occur.
– A Cab Driver
In the years following the December 16 incident, not much has changed when it comes to how the Indian society treats women. Shaming and blaming women who register sexual harassment charges is rampant.
They wear such clothes to entice us… to market themselves…then they say they’ve been raped.
– Another Cab Driver
There is an undertone of ‘teach her a lesson’ in the way one cab driver (Cab 1 in the video) talks of women who sit in his cabs. This need to discipline a woman, the tone of owning a woman, to break in a ‘harlot’, is what disturbs.
No Country For Women
It is always the way she dresses, or has male friends, or that she visits a pub and drinks at night. Her ‘provocative’ lifestyle is just an excuse.
An on-demand Uber cab driver raped a woman in New Delhi, about 8 months ago, while she was returning home from a party, late at night. A few months later another woman complained of harassment while travelling in another Uber cab.
Recently, a woman alleged on social media, that the driver of the Taxi For Sure cab she was taking home, masturbated while looking at her in the rear-view mirror. The woman stayed in the car for 25 more minutes because it was too late to get out.
Rather A Masturbator
And that’s where safety comes in. When you take a cab, out of necessity or for comfort, you essentially put yourself in a moving metal compartment with no immediate escape. The driver controls the gears, and the ride. But like the latest harassment incident, sometimes a cab with a stranger jerking off inside feels safer than getting out on desolate Delhi roads.
How’s that for choice? Or the utter lack of it?
Ola! It’s an Uber For Sure
On-demand taxi apps have changed the way we travel. A personal taxi, a click away, helps. And though it is right to question Ola, Uber and Taxi For Sure for the parameters set by them while hiring drivers, the real problem is the psyche of our society. And not just in the minds of a few perverse cab drivers.
What you people want to show?? He is right coz we are Indian and nuedness not allowed in our country.we r not habitual of these things.this is not europ or America.If u go gulf country there local girls follows thr rules.we are Hindu Muslims sikh ctistian whatever we have to follow our culture .we can’t allow to our girls or wife to wear shorts or take sunbath front of anyone.. Nuedness is not sighn of develop. (SIC)
Above, with no changes, is what a certain Pramod Singh wrote as a comment after watching the teaser to this video.
Let’s Be Fair
Such comments can be heard in homes, in government offices, news rooms and institutions. Misogyny is everywhere. It is just more blunt and crude coming from a cab driver, who does not know he is on hidden camera.
This is not to say that he doesn’t believe these thoughts. They are his own. But to use these testimonials to tar all Delhi cab drivers would be erroneous. Out of the eight cab drivers we questioned, only six came up with the ridiculous statements you encounter in the video.
You may feel a bit more unsafe after watching this, but fact is, their beliefs have less to do with their occupation, and more with the inherent misogyny of a patriarchal society.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)