60 per cent urban Indians feel unsafe at home

Three out of five feel "more unsafe and threatened" after the recent spate of murders in our cities, reports Sushmita Bose. See survey | Sin Cities

Days after the Aarushi Talwar and Neeraj Grover murders (the chief suspect in the Aarushi case is the father, while a ‘close’ woman friend and her alleged boyfriend killed Neeraj), a shocking new verdict has been delivered: people in our cities feel that the spectre of crime has moved closer home.

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Family members and friends could well be perpetrators, say two out of every five respondents (41%) in an all-India HT-Cfore survey. See survey | Sin Cities

Three out of five feel "more unsafe and threatened" after the recent spate of murders in our cities, while 74% blame urban lifestyles for urban crime. "We shouldn’t separate ourselves from the Grovers and Talwars. This could happen to us," says Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road.

Two-thirds of the respondents say they do not trust the country’s police, and feel they are not competent enough to track down perpetrators. More than half the respondents (54 per cent) say lack of communication and relationships breaking down — at home, at the workplace and among friends — is leading to more "urban lifestyle-driven" crimes.

"There are intense rivalries, frustrations and anger, there are no mechanisms in society to mollify those emotions and there are no personal restraints," points out sociologist Imtiaz Ahmed.

Worryingly, the state of affairs seems to be taking a toll on urban mindsets: 53% respondents say they will "take revenge" on their partners if they (the partners) betrayed them.

(Inputs by Pallavi Polanki)