Pune edit: Why did BPO rape victim Jyotikumari have to die?

The death sentence awarded by a Pune court to cabbie Purushottam Borate and his accomplice Pradeep Kokade for raping and murdering Jyotikumari Choudhari, a BPO employee, in 2007 is laudable.

Here was a case in which a person entrusted with safely escorting a lady to work at night plotted a heinous crime in cold blood. At a time when the number of women in the workforce is growing, the judgment comes as a timely reminder that such ghastly crimes against them will not be taken lightly.

The more important question, however, is whether stringent punishment alone will act as a deterrent. The incident in question, which came close on the heels of a similar case in Bangalore, led to a hue and cry and, subsequently, a review of the safety of the transport systems used by BPOs.

All the bodies concerned — the police, the regional transport office and the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) — came together to prepare a set of safety guidelines.

But, sadly, most of it remained on paper. Even Pune, which has an IT-BPO community of more than one lakh, has witnessed more such cases. In short, women are still unsafe in our cities, and the less said about smaller towns where employment is booming the better.

Even as the courts dispense speedy justice, which itself can be a deterrent, the private sector, which often passes off cheap PR exercises and photo-ops as corporate social responsibility, needs to put its hand up and acknowledge that it has a role to play in the safety of those who put in their blood and sweat to fatten companies’ bottom lines.