Residents here live in fear

His wife was alone when two men robbed her on March 4, 2008 at gunpoint. They lost cash and jewellery worth Rs 2.9 lakh. The police registered a case of theft. “I was confused as the assailants had used a gun, but they said it was a theft case. Later when they were able to make some recovery, they registered a case of robbery.”

Residents here live in fear

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Vipin Aggarwal
Businessman, E-Block Sector-41

His wife was alone when two men robbed her on March 4, 2008 at gunpoint. They lost cash and jewellery worth Rs 2.9 lakh. The police registered a case of theft. “I was confused as the assailants had used a gun, but they said it was a theft case. Later when they were able to make some recovery, they registered a case of robbery.”

This incident has changed their life as well. They hired a guard and even changed the nameplate outside their house. “The police told us that robbers target particular communities at times, so we covered the name on the postbox. Now it just mentions our house address. It is very unsafe to stay in Noida. The police move at their own pace. The place has almost no policing and we live in the better part of Noida. I do not know how safe the people in the interiors are,” he said.

Afraid of police, they didn’t report theft

Sarita Malhotra
Housewife, E-Block
Sector-52

Their house was burgled six months ago when they were out shopping. “The thieves managed to cut through the grill and got away with cash and valuables. They ransacked the whole house and damaged expensive things,” she said.

Complaining to the police did not help them much. “Who would like to handle police situations? We thought it would be better not to pursue the case at all.”

But this had an affected their lives. Soon after the incident, they hired a guard. “This was all we could do to prevent such things in future. After the incident, we blamed ourselves and thought that keeping valuables at home was a mistake.

So, now we have learnt our lesson. I feel Noida and Delhi are the same. The crime rate is just the same and both the places have same kind of policing problems.”