Are Residential Societies Safe Enough? Sweeper Stabs 25-Yr-Old For Resisting Sexual Abuse

According to media reports in the air hostess murder case Mumbai Police has yet to be able to impose an IPC section on the accused for ‘outraging the modesty of a woman.’ The garbage sweeper killed a trainee flight attendant by slashing her neck with a knife. Although Vikram Athwal admitted to wanting to kill the victim, sexual assault has been ruled out by the preliminary postmortem report. This in turn has sparked a discussion regarding potential security risks posed by workers within housing societies.

The case came to the limelight on September 3 when police found the Trainee Flight Attendant Rupal Ogrey’s body in her flat in Mumbai's Powai area.

According to media reports the Powai police are reportedly awaiting the tentative postmortem certificate before deciding whether to invoke IPC section 354 of the law. As stated by a police officer, the victim's viscera and swab have been stored, while DNA samples from Athwal will be gathered.

At 11:30 am on September 3, the accused knocked on the woman’s door and said he was there to collect garbage. "Athwal, who was carrying a knife, urged her to examine what he thought might be a water leak coming from the flush tank as he followed her inside. He charged into the bathroom as she entered and made an attempt to sexually assault her. He stabbed her when she resisted him. After cleaning up the blood on the floor and washing it from his uniform, he put it back on and left the flat. Although his typical sign-off time is 4 pm, Athwal later changed into a different set of clothes on the property of the building before departing the society at 2 pm," according to an official.

"Athwal has admitted that his goal in attacking the woman was to terrorise her. He wound up stabbing her twice in the neck as she struggled with him," an officer claimed. The police officer was also quoted as saying that it was shocking to know that none of the occupants of the other five flats on the floor heard any noise or the victim's screams while she was being attacked.

This incident has triggered a discussion about residential society security. The issue of insufficient background checks for employees working in buildings has been a point of contention for residents and society office-holders.

In housing societies, there are no clear regulations governing the requirement of identity verification for security or housekeeping workers. While the police did release a circular in 2017 on the filing of verification information, they went short of making such verification a legal necessity.

On the other hand, when the world was going through the COVID-19 pandemic, civic bodies mandated health tests in addition to collecting information about staff origins. However, there has been an observable drop in the application of both health and personal verification processes since the pandemic has receded.

According to media reports, some experts are suggesting the following steps to ensure security in residential areas:

• Police Verification: Employers must insist on a police certificate attesting to a candidate's spotless record and lack of criminal history.

• Periodic Checks: It should be mandatory to regularly appear for personal verification, which includes family and financial history. The police should get monthly reports from the staff.

• Straight-forward Entry and Exit Points: To strengthen security measures, clearly defined entry and exit procedures for security and housekeeping workers, including the delineation of work areas, must be developed.

In another incident of security breach at housing societies, a video of a man in the preset of help forcefully entering a woman’s house along with his aides went viral on social media. The incident, which was recorded on CCTV, starts out innocently enough with a woman carefully offering a glass of water to a man stationed outside her home who is wearing a police uniform. She keeps her safety door shut for protection and keeps a careful distance. After a little pause, the woman offers the man another glass of water, and then things start to get tense. The man without warning attacks the woman, and forces her into her own house. After that two more men ascend the staircase and enter the premises.

Such incidents give rise to questions like, ‘Are we not safe even at our homes?’ And also states how poor is security system of residential areas!