A year after Mangalore pub attack : Are women safer ?

Mangalore Today

Mangalore, Jan.25: It has been one year since the attack on women in a pub in Mangalore by members of the Sri Rama Sena - an attack caught on camera and shown on television channels across the country.

 

A year after the vicious attack, all the 30 accused are out on bail and women say the situation is still the same, no safer.

 

"Thirty people were arrested and produced before the court, they were granted bail and are observing the conditions of the bail. Since that attack there has been a 180 degree turn - things are safe now for everybody in Dakshina Kannada," says Gopal Hosur, IGP, West. A good officer, who wants to bring peace and harmony. But..., well everyone knows.

Sri Rama Sena leader Pramod Muthalik, who was banned from entering Dakshina Kannada district after the attack, got a High Court stay on the order and can visit the district. He did visit the city with a different agenda. This time it was ’Love Jihad’.

 

Enquiry commission run into trouble. Still no action taken.

"I don’t think it is safer at all. You have a newer form - ’love jehad’ - so this is now entitling the state governments, police and  courts to intervene in who I choose to be with in public, who I choose to go out with, who I choose to marry. Of course it is not safer, in fact it is much more intrusive," says Aarti Mundkur, a fearless woman.

The men responsible for this outrage are out on bail. The women who were attacked have hopefully put the trauma behind them and are getting on with their lives. But one year after, women remain as vulnerable as ever. Does anyone care even a bit?