The gruesome rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student in New Delhi reveals the downside of a society in transition. Every middle-class family that has a growing up daughter studying or working away from home is somewhat at risk. Much depends on how responsibly or otherwise the girl acts. It is now becoming commonplace for girls to pursue education or profession away from her hometown. This is denouement of a trend in a society, which was exposed to modern education and career, nearly two centuries ago. Towards the beginning only local men got education. Thus when the Hindu College (estd. 1817) later called Presidency College was set up in Calcutta, or Elphinstone College (estd. 1834) in Bombay the boys of the respective cities availed the opportunity.

It might be quite some decades before boys from distant places became noticeable. For instance, in 1872 Assamese Literary Society was started in Calcutta by likes of Jagannath Baruah and Manik Chandra Baruah, who then studied in Presidency College. When women educational institutions began post-1850s only girls of that particular city attended them. Higher education among girls was a subsequent development. The hostel facility for girls appears to be a wholly 20th century development. Breadwinning did not seem to be the purpose of educating girls as yet.

Men folk working in government or private concerns away from home had become common in the 19th century itself. With the independence of India, the era of new professional migration began. This could be attributed to recruitments in all-India services and growth of public sector industries during the Second Five Year Plan. Often entire families were relocated. With new IITs, IIMs, engineering and medical colleges being opened, more students moved to new locations for studies. In the beginning, they were mostly male. Migration of girls, though fewer in number, for post graduation studies subsequently caught up. The bar then came down to graduation level.

As nuclear families and small families became the norm it became common to groom girls as breadwinners. As girls became educated, they aspired for financial independence. The trend of working girls increased. In some cases, she became an additional breadwinner, in others the principal one. The trend of working women as better choices in a marriage became common since early 1970s. Slowly in some sectors women come to have dominance. The presence of women is diminiant in publication houses, BPOs, paramedical services, etc. With liberization in early 1990s, skies have been opened up for young people. Women have benefited from them, at times more than men. 

Girls in middle-class families seek professional education and career away from home. Girls studying or working in the national capital away from home may be in tune of half a million. Girls from the north-east apparently top the list. The three working girls hostel of New Delhi Municipal Corporation have total accommodation capacity of 513 only.

The rest 16 hotels, recognised by Department of Women and Child Development of Delhi government, have an aggregate capacity of 2302. This mismatch between demand and supply has led to spurt in growth of private PGs, or private accommodations being hired by girls. Some girls may find the hostel life protective but restrictive, given the time-restriction imposed on them for reporting back. The victim in the recent rape case would perhaps have been safer living in a hostel. But it would not have allowed her to be out on street (she might have reached her nest not before 10.30 pm).

The position of the parents whose girls study or work in metros away from home can be delicate. Cellphone of the girl is the only way they can contact her in real time. Their options can be limited in case the girl is in trouble. They may not have any other contact in that city. How the girl chooses to handle her ‘freedom’ is up to her. If she recognises the limitations of her sex and behaves responsibly, the risk can be reduced substantially. If she finds such advice antediluvian or moralistic, she should have few reasons to complain back in case of a feminine calamity. Let’s be realistic: girls by nature are vulnerable to something which boys are immune to. A boy can spend whole night lying in a platform of a railway station; a girl cannot. This is a plain truth which the liberal brigade is trying to deny. Remember the quote from the film Jab We Met where Karina Kapoor stranded at a railway station in the dead of the night meets a ruffian- “Ek akeli ladki ek khuli tijori ti tarah hoti hai” (A girl alone is like an open locker).

This wisdom should not be lost upon young girls living away from their families. An increased policing is not the substitute for them being cautious. As per latest figures of Bureau of Police Research & Development (Ministry of Home Affairs) Delhi is one of the most policed states. There is one policeman per 227 persons in Delhi, as against 1135 person in Bihar, 1239 in West Bengal, 867 in Madhya Pradesh, 768 in Odisha and 721 in Maharashtra and 576 persons nationally. But due to over-deployment there is actually one policeman per 223 persons in Delhi, whereas in all other states there is under-deployment leading to increase in actual population load per policeman. There is a cop in Delhi for every 0.02 sq km, better than actual national average of 2.03 sq km. As far mobility (transport facility per 100 policemen) is concerned, Delhi needs to improve upon its figures of 7.38.

The irony of the protests is that while women are asserting their freedom from male domination they are passing the onus of security to men i.e. policemen. There is no mention that Indians girls should physically make themselves tough like Israeli women who join the army. Delhi Police has been conducting self-defence camp that gives judo and karate training to girls & women. Girls must join them. Modernity is not just about frequenting Malls, PVRs and Cafes. They must train themselves for self-defence and have a realistic assessment of risk factors.