Graveyard shifts: Cops mull stricter safety rules

For women working on graveyard shifts, the Capital with its history of ghastly crime against the fairer sex, can be a tough place to survive.

For women working on graveyard shifts, the Capital with its history of ghastly crime against the fairer sex, can be a tough place to survive.

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Shaken by the gangrape of a 19-year-old employee of a Noida mall, who is also a correspondence course student at DU, on November 3, the Delhi police have decided to come out with a new set of guidelines for every organisation with late working hours for woman.

“We are going to start a drive to safeguard women who work in organisations with graveyard shifts. We will also send letters to companies in both Delhi and NCR region. An advertisement on the guidelines on security of women in BPOs would soon be published,” said Dharmender Kumar, joint commissioner of police (New Delhi range).

He added that patrolling will also be increased in different parts of the city.

“We are also going to talk to the company where the victim worked and ask them why she was made to walk till Madhuban Chowk to take her cab,” he added. The victim was abducted at 5am when she was on her way to the pick up point.

According to many BPO workers, this is the main problem they face. “My cabbie claims that the lane to my house is too narrow and his car can’t manage to go inside. I am made to walk till the end of the lane even at 2 am. My father or brother has to escort me every time. It is very difficult,” said Jasmine Sharma, who works for a BPO in Gurgaon.