Violence Against Women: A Demand for Change

YOGITA BHAYANA, WOMEN’S AND CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST: There is a gender-based violence. Then there is a caste-based violence. And caste — the people with the so-called upper-lower caste, there is so much difference. There’s a lot of vulnerability attached to the lower caste. So, of late, we have seen so many cases which we are seeing which are coming onto the surface, especially the case which happened last year where the girl was raped and burned by the police. I mean, imagine. The authorities were involved, like in U.K. case. This gentleman was a police. I would say, there, the police to be blamed. Here, I feel very sad that, in this particular case, this cop will get away with life sentence. There is no provision for capital punishment. I don’t know, but we are pushing here in India a lot. We saw four people hanged last year.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA: And…

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BHAYANA: And we wish more people would get to the noose.

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GOLODRYGA: And, Jamie, it is that Sarah Everard was murdered at the hands of the police that really sent shockwaves, though, throughout the country and months of fear among women who were told to stay indoors and fear for what may happen to them, until, obviously, it wasn’t identified that she was in fact murdered by a police officer. The Met Police released some advice for women, which has been criticized. And I would ask you if you think it’s right to be criticized. Let’s play that video for you now. I don’t believe we have it. But, basically they’re asking women to ask plainclothes officers questions like, where are your colleagues? Ask to speak to an operator on police radio. If you believe that you are in a real and imminent danger, seek assistance, shouting out to a passerby, running into a house, knocking on a door. Wave a bus sign down. Call 999. I mean, I guess, in theory, this is good advice. But is it practical if somebody is approached by a police officer? And in the case of Sarah Everard, she was immediately handcuffed. What more can women do?

JAMIE KLINGLER, CO-FOUNDER, RECLAIM THESE STREETS: He also had a valid badge. So, if she’d called an operator and said, is this a police officer who is apprehending me, they would have said yes. It’s absolutely asinine, especially telling you to get a bus, to get a bus driver to stop? Like, you’re in a busy, busy metropolitan center. Like, that’s never, ever going to happen. And instead of the Metropolitan Police taking responsibility for not vetting their cops and really working through why Wayne Couzens was able to indecently expose himself to people and get away with it and stay on the force, they’re telling us to double-vet police officers, in case an undercover officer stops us. If an undercover officer put me in cuffs, I’d be so shocked and so terrified. Like, the idea that I would then run or try to scream and get help, it’s just absolutely not OK. And women of color or people of color trying to resist arrest gets them killed.