When security calls go unheard

Pune BPO employee’s rape and murder suggests rules and measures remain on paper

BANGALORE: After every violent act, new rules are formulated to ensure the safety of IT/BPO employees doing night shifts, but the rape and murder of Pune call centre employee Jyoti Chowdhury makes it evident that they mostly remain on paper. 

Every rape and murder wakes up the IT/BPO companies to the need for employee safety, but the concern is short-lived as everything is forgotten in the lull between any such two incidents.

It’s déjà vu as 21-year-old Jyoti’s (who worked with Spectramind) rape and murder on Friday, allegedly by her cab driver and his accomplice, has once again forced the police to gear up and IT/BPO firms to take a re-look at their security. A similar knee-jerk was witnessed when another BPO employee Pratibha Murthy was raped and murdered by her cab driver in Bangalore in December 2005. But after a while everything was forgotten as companies went back to their careless ways and the police stopped night patrols. Rules such as an accompanying security guard, ban on tinted glasses and checking the antecedents of drivers were flouted. 

An example of how fast security takes a backseat even after such incidents came when a 25-year-old employee of HP Global Soft on a night shift was the last one to be dropped home without a security guard. “Pratibha Murthy’s rape and murder hasn’t changed things. The companies are still careless. We still have to fight with the in-charge of the transport system to provide us with a security guard on night shifts. Once we had a male employee accompanying us, but he got down before us and my friend (a girl) was left alone with the driver,” said an HP Global Soft employee.

IT companies and police argue there is adequate safety, but employees and travel agencies claim otherwise.   “In the name of cost cutting, transport agencies do not install tracking devices which makes contacting a cab on road tough,” said SRS Travels CEO MD Rajshekhar, who operates across India’s IT hubs.

Police posts have been set up at the entrances of IT parks in Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, but patrolling is irregular due to staff shortage.  “It is not possible to set up police pickets at all points,” said joint commissioner of police Gopal Hosur in Bangalore, which has registered over 100 crimes related to BPOs in the past two years. Most cabs in Hyderabad, which has a relatively low BPO-related crime rate, pick up strangers on their way back to travel agencies.

But city police commissioner Balwant Singh said: “We are creating awareness about the dangers of travelling alone at night, safety of women employees and so on.” he said.