The Times of India has exposed the blatant molestation of women devotees at a Ganga ghat in broad daylight. This has been going on for a long time with policemen turning a blind eye to the hoodlums going rampant at the ghat. I was speechless in shock and shame to see the photographs published in TOI.
The TOI report:
It was 11.30 on Sunday morning when the first group of women arrived at Nemaitirtha ghat in Sheoraphuli for the customary holy dip on their way to Tarakeswar. As the crowd of devotees, priests, — and voyeurs — swelled, confusion took over. And it was just the opportunity that a group of local hoodlums was waiting for. The towel-clad men took off their shirts and jumped into the Ganga.
By 12.30, they had closed in on their first prey — a married woman in her early twenties. Like predators, they cut her off from her companion. The moment she took a dip, they lunged on her and molested her. The trio hung on like leeches. Her cries for help were drowned in the noise all around.
The next instant, they spotted another devotee, a teenager in a pink salwar-kameez. Her dupatta was snatched and several hands kept groping her till she managed to wrench free. Many noticed the young girl running away in tears but none dared to raise an alarm.
There was a group of constables barely 100 yards from this scene of horror but they all pleaded ignorance. It was open season for molesters. A couple of the hoodlums even went ashore for a drink of cheap whiskey, which they swigged from mineral water bottles and dived back into the river.
Over the last five years, Nemaitirtha ghat has turned into a happy hunting ground for local hoodlums who prey on women devotees in the name of helping them to draw holy water from the Ganga. Most of the devotees are from Kolkata, Burdwan, Midnapore, Kalyani, Krishnagore and Birbhum.
It was local residents who complained to TOI about the horror in the holy land. A team of journalists visited the ghat on Sunday and was shocked to see molesters preying on women in broad daylight under the noses of policemen. Some of the pictures we took were too shocking to be published.
It is an example height of police inaction and administrative callousness. Perhaps no word is enough to condemn this. TOI really deserves praise for bringing this gruesome incident to light. Now the administration has come out of its slumber and the rascals have been arrested. They need exemplary punishment. The on-duty policemen can’t shrug off their responsibility, they are no less guilty. They deserve punishment for total niegligence of duties.
