Who do we blame for Mumbai's increasing hostility towards women?

In a debate over which city is the most cosmopolitan one, Mumbai often trumps Delhi and pretty much every other city. Not for anything else but because there’s often a woman who’ll argue that the city is safe for her clan. Several women usually have a horror story or two about Delhi. Very few have similar stories to tell about Mumbai. And the ones that do come up once in a while, are brushed aside as one off incidents, aberrations in an otherwise ‘safe’ city. What changed over the years, however, is that though we say the city is safe for women we don’t truly believe it anymore. We’re unsure about who to blame. Is it the unending migration into the city? Is it a degradation of moral values that can be conveniently blamed on popular culture? Is it poverty? Is it just bad policing? It is bad urban planning? We’ll try seeking easy answer after the horrific gangrape of a journalist but we are unlikely to come up with one. [caption id=“attachment_1055567” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Protests against the Delhi rape incident. Agencies.[/caption] Unfortunately for Mumbai, this incident isn’t one that can’t be brushed aside with time. For one, despite its isolation, the Shakti Mills in Lower Parel does qualify as a ‘public place’. In Mumbai, isolation at times is seen as a luxury. Women have known its dangers, and often ignored it in Mumbai, but can they anymore? The incident also busts Mumbai and perhaps an Indian urban belief that having a male companion is ensuring safety. The 16 December Delhi gang-rape case and this incident tell us that having a companion, even a male one, doesn’t ensure safety in India’s crowded bustling city-scapes. What makes it more scary is the fact that there may be nothing an individual can do to prevent such a crime. There have been shocking incidents in recent times that targeted women in Mumbai. An American student was raped and no one was found guilty. Two women were publicly molested on New Year’s Eve of 2008 and one of the main accused was never caught. A Spanish woman was raped by a burglar in her apartment. A lawyer was killed brutally in her apartment by the building’s security guard. All of these shocked us while they were in the limelight but then faded away from public memory. After our outrage over this incident is spent we will debate about how this city has become less safe for women and we’ll bemoan everything that’s gone wrong. At some point we may even go back to saying that Mumbai’s still safest for women among other Indian cities. It may still hold true, but we’re just not going to believe it as strongly anymore.