50 ‘romeos’ held in two hours on Gurgaon’s MG Road during police drive

GURGAON : Fifty men were arrested for allegedly harassing women on Friday night as part of the Gurgaon Police’s special two-hour ‘Operation Romeo Free’ drive on

GURGAON : Fifty men were arrested for allegedly harassing women on Friday night as part of the Gurgaon Police’s special two-hour ‘Operation Romeo Free’ drive on MG Road, a popular hangout zone of Gurgaon.

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Both male and female cops in plainclothes were stationed at 10 crucial points from 11 pm to 1 am on the busy road that houses a number of malls, residential complexes and corporate offices.

“We rounded up 50 youths found involved in eve-teasing and misbehaving with women. Action will be taken against them as per law,” said assistant commissioner of police (headquarters), Dharna Yadav, who led the drive.

“We have been receiving many complaints regarding eve teasing on MG Road,” she said.

The arrested youth allegedly made inappropriate gestures or misbehaved with women outside Sahara Mall, MG Road Metro station and JMD mall, to name a few.

The area is popularly known as Mall Mile, with at least 10 big malls and commercial complexes on either side of the road.

The accused were then kept inside the “Majnu Room” at the Sector 29 police station.

In September, October and December, the police arrested 250 molesters in a similar ‘Operation Romeo Free’ campaign across Gurgaon, including MG road.

The drive led to a decrease in such incidents, said police. They have of late increased, cops said.

An audit by NGO Safetipin in January gave 0.7 points out of 5 for security on MG Road. The MG Road metro station scored 2.6 points.

Women escorts also often frequent the road, waiting for customers.

A policewoman at the MG Road police post said chances of harassment of women increases after 10 pm.

She said most incidents reported to police are because of a rift among escorts and their customers. In some instances, the rift even leads to charges of rape.

“We have a system of night patrol to ensure such incidents do not happen” said sub-inspector Balwant Singh, in-charge of MG Road police post.

A woman PCR van is also stationed at the Mall Mile to curb such incidents.

Sources in the police said most harassment incidents go unreported due to confusion over jurisdiction of police stations.

While coming from Mehrauli, the left side of the Mall Mile is under the MG Road police post. The right side falls under the DLF Phase-2 police station.

Assistant commissioner of police (headquarter) Dharna Yadav said Operation Romeo Free will continue in the area so that women feel safer.

(With inputs from Rashpal Singh)