Posters purportedly sponsored by the Ahmedabad traffic police for a safety drive have caused a commotion, with some of them calling for women to remain at home to escape rape. The posters, plastered in some of the city's localities, have drawn criticism from the opposition party, which questioned the safety of women in Gujarat.
Posters with the lines, "do not go to late night parties, you may be raped or gangraped," and "do not accompany your friend to secluded, dark places, what if she gets raped or gangraped?" were stuck on road dividers in Sola and Chandlodia areas and have since been removed.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic West), Neeta Desai explained that the city traffic police sponsored posters regarding road safety, not women's safety.
The NGO, Satarkta Group, produced the offending posters without the permission of the traffic police, she said.
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"The NGO had come to us and informed us that they wanted to organise traffic awareness programs in schools and colleges and wanted our staff to accompany them. Posters pertaining to traffic awareness were shown to us. But the controversial posters were not shown to us and were pasted without our permission," Desai said.
She further said that the posters were removed as soon as the matter was brought to their notice.
Gujarat Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took a swipe at the BJP-led government, saying the posters exposed the state of women's safety.
"The BJP government in Gujarat speaks about women empowerment, but the ground reality here is entirely different. In the past three years, over 6,500 rape cases and over 36 gang rapes took place in Gujarat, with over five rapes a day," the AAP said in a release.
"The top minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders discuss women's safety, but today in a large city like Ahmedabad, these posters say what Gujarat is all about. Our question to the CM is should women of Gujarat venture out of home in the night or not?" it said.
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