Mumbai, 12 September 2012:
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday submitted to Bombay High Court a
proposed set of guidelines to ensure safety of women who work late night
and commute alone, which includes a recommendation that women be given
personal safety gadgets such as pepper spray by the employers.
Women working between 7 PM and 7 AM should be provided with car pick-up
and drop facility with security personnel and trained in self-defense,
besides giving them personal safety gadgets like tasers and pepper
spray, the government proposals stated, among other things.
The division bench of Justices V M Kanade and P D Kode had yesterday
said while private firms are bound to ensure the safety of women
employees working late hours, the state should come up with some
guidelines for the firms.
The court's remarks came during the hearing of the death confirmation
appeals of Purushottam Borate and Pradeep Kokade, who have been
convicted for kidnapping, rape and murder of a female BPO employee in
Pune in 2007.
Purshottam, a driver with a logistics company, picked up the victim
from her home to take her to the Wipro office for her night shift, but
instead took her to a secluded spot. He and Kokade then raped and
murdered her.
Pune court awarded them death sentence this year, and it will have to
be confirmed by the High Court. Both prosecution and defense completed
the arguments today.
Public prosecutor Revathi Dhere submitted a three-page document listing the measures that government proposes to take.
It includes a direction that every organisation which employs women
should evolve an approved 'Standard Operating Procedure', and a
compliance report regarding training program for employees, security
staff and drivers should be submitted to the local police station
annually.
It is also proposed that ownership of hired vehicles and identity of
owners and drivers should be verified and the security staff should be
sourced from licensed and approved agencies.
Besides this, GPS units should be installed in cars along with CCTVs,
and every company should have a control room manned by trained staff to
help the woman in case of emergency. - UT
