Special Project: Safety of women in Indian cities

January 2020:A compilation of in-depth articles, resources and opinion, to inspire thought and concrete action towards developing a safer country for women.

A compilation of in-depth articles, resources and opinion, to inspire thought and concrete action towards becoming a safer country for women.

Representational image. Pic: Biswarup Ganguly/Wikimedia Commons

From December 2012 to November 2019, from Nirbhaya to Disha, from Delhi to Hyderabad — with Kathua, Unnao, Chennai, Jaipur and countless others in between — the spate of crimes against women in India continues unabated.

Neither a seven-year-long trial ending in a verdict of capital punishment for rapists in the Nirbhayacase, nor the encounter killing of alleged rapists in Hyderabad raises reasonable hopes of stemming the violence and reducing the vulnerability of women. Everyday, we read or hear of a new incident, each more brazen, brutal and shocking than the other.

What, and who, then, can we rely on for long-term solutions to this huge threat to the security and safety of women, that we seem to be unable to eliminate or even reduce?

In this special compilation, we look at the different types of violence that women face every day, the deep-rooted causes that have led to this and the challenges in delivering justice for victims.

We also highlight some measures taken by the state and social organisations and groups to address the problem and examine the extent of their success.

Citizen Matters Special Projects

Making our cities better places to live in requires better understanding of urban issues, more data to drive solutions, synergies in attempts towards improvement, and sharing of best practices

This in turn calls for sustained coverage and interpretation of initiatives, or lack of them, across cities, related to each issue in focus.

To that end, our ‘Special Projects’ series takes up one key urban topic or theme at a time, and explores it in depth — through reportage, data, interactions and op-eds.

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