Three months, 16 attacks: Vijayawada remains unsafe for women

Vijayawada: While various initiatives have been launched to ensure women safety in the past three years in Vijayawada commissionerate limits, recent incidents show a dangerous trend of women being attacked in public places across the city. At least 16 incidents have been reported in the last three months where women have been attacked in public places.

On September 5, a 31-year-old woman was attacked by a man for refusing his advances. She was saved by neighbours while he was trying to slit her throat outside her house in Moghalrajapuram hill. In June, again, there was a sexual assault on a 70-year-old women by the notorious blade batch gang near Vijayawada railway station.

These aren’t stray incidents. In four of the 16 reported incidents, the attackers have boldly surrendered to the police, confessing to the crime . Investigating officials in all the four cases point out that none of the accused were scared of the consequences.

“Once, such instances were reckoned as ‘rare’ but now they stand common. However, it is important to note that in all the major cases reported recently, the accused is known to the victim,” a senior police official told TOI.

Clinical psychologists explain that in all four cases, the common aspect leading to the crime is suppression of anger or jealousy . “Most common motives are suppressed sexual desires and lack of emotional bonding with spouses. Financial problems also lead to such attacks,” said city-based psychologist RV Shekhar.