7 Disturbing Stories Of How Common Sexual Abuse In Public Spaces Is

By Safecity:

The 2012 Delhi gang rape had the nation in an uproar. The brutality of it shook the very core of our being. So shaken by the incident, we launched an initiative called Safecity on 26 December 2012, a platform that uniquely encourages people to share personal experiences of sexual harassment and abuse in public spaces, an issue that largely remains under reported. Since our launch, we have with us over 8,500 stories from over 50 cities in India, Nepal, Kenya and Cameroon. Of these, more than 4,000 reports highlight verbal abuse followed by more than 2,500 reports speaking of physical abuse including rape.

Here are some personal stories shared on Safecity’s reporting platform from different cities:

DELHI

NEPAL

KENYA

MUMBAI

GOA/BANGALORE

CAMEROON

It’s extremely disturbing to even read about such incidents. But it’s crucial we share them because they could give more strength to other survivors to come forward and share their stories. Subsequently, with more reporting of violence against women to the police and courts, we could help increase the conviction rate of perpetrators of sexual violence in India.

You too can help contribute to this initiative. To tell you briefly about how it works: This data which may be anonymous gets aggregated as hot spots on a crowd map indicating trends at a local level. The idea is to make this data useful for individuals, local communities and local administration to look for solutions in making our spaces safer and accessible. The reports from Nepal, Kenya and Cameroon are also an effort of the partner organisations we are working with for we believe that this is an issue that affects people all over the world. Please take a minute to view the full map here and report sexual harassment in public spaces.