Ahmedabad traffic police blame NGO after public fury over ‘don’t get raped’ posters

Hours after posters, sponsored by the traffic police, asking women to stay home to avoid rape, along Ahmedabad roads, sparked massive public outrage, the department has clarified that it doesn’t endorse such “indecent” language or message and that the banners were put up by an NGO that worked with it, without consultation. The damage-control move by traffic police, however, hasn’t stopped the opposition from latching on to the issue to accuse the BJP government of resorting to moral policing and having failed in protecting the state’s women.

Posters ‘to not get raped’

The posters, put up on road dividers and pillars across Sola and Chandlodia areas of Ahmedabad on Saturday (August 2) read, “Raat ni partion ma jawanu nathi. Rape ane gang rape thai jase (Do not attend late-night parties, you could be raped or gang-raped).”

Also read: Ahmedabad traffic police posters on women's safety stir controversy

Another poster put up in central Ahmedabad read, “Anghar ma sumsam jagya e rangli ne lai jawani nathi. Rape ane gang rape thai gai to…? (Do not take your girlfriends out in late night and in isolated areas, what if she is raped or gang-raped?”

The posters were reportedly put up by Satarkta, a local volunteer group in Ahmedabad that has executed several campaigns of the city traffic police in the past. In July this year, the group was tasked with designing a ‘women safety’ campaign on the instructions of Ahmedabad traffic police.

Women safety campaign

The posters that were part of the same campaign quickly sparked massive public outrage and a few locals from Sola area of Ahmedabad tore them, calling them “irresponsible” on the part of the Ahmedabad City Traffic Police.

Following this, the city traffic police quickly swung into damage control mode and took down the posters. Later, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) issued a clarification later.

Cops on damage control mode

“The Satarkta group has carried out several traffic awareness campaigns in the past. This group regularly carries out public awareness programmes in its own way. However, recently, some controversial posters were put up by the group, which came to the attention of the Ahmedabad City Traffic Police. These posters were immediately removed and this group has been instructed not to put up controversial posters. The group did not inform the Ahmedabad City Traffic Police about making or putting up posters with controversial text other than traffic congestion,” said NN Choudhary, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic).

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Admitting the posters were indecent, Neeta Desai, DCP Traffic (West) said, “Satarkta is an NGO that works with the traffic police to spread awareness regarding traffic issues. They usually put posters regarding traffic regulations but this time they put out these posters on another subject without consulting us. We have taken the posters down and given them a strict warning regarding the same.”

“We never approved such language. It’s absolutely unacceptable,” Desai added.

‘Fear-mongering’: Congress slams govt

However, despite efforts by traffic police to handle the situation, the issue created a massive political uproar.

“This is not about safety, it’s fear-mongering and moral policing. This is not the culture of Gujarat. Our daughters have never had to worry about staying out late in the night. We take pride in the fact that our cities are safe for our women irrespective of what time she chooses to be out. This move of the BJP government insults Gujarat’s daughters and betrays public trust,” said Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Amit Chavda.

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“Such regressive posters were pasted across the city with police permission, otherwise how can an NGO put up posters on its own accord? When citizens are told to fear the night, it shows that criminals have no fear of the police and that the government appears helpless,” said AAP MLA Gopal Italia.

State reports 6,524 rapes in 3 years

Noticeably as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, Gujarat reported 6,524 rape cases between 2020 and 2023. Another 4,820 cases were reported under the category of ‘assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’ in the same time period.

At least 2,076 incidents of rape have been reported between 2020 and 2021, 2,239 between 2021 and 2022 and 2,209 between 2022 and 2023.

Apart from this, 27 cases of gang-rape cases were reported in Gujarat in the year 2020-2021, 32 in 2021-2022, and 36 in 2022-23.

As per the data submitted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in the Lok Sabha in July 2023, the conviction rate of rape cases in Gujarat is low.

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Low conviction

The data reveals 477 cases of rape were registered in Gujarat in 2017, but 37 saw conviction, and in 283 cases the accused were acquitted.

In 2018, 553 cases of rape were registered, with the accused convicted in only 20 of them, while 179 cases saw acquittals. While in 2019, 528 cases of rape were registered, the accused were convicted in 31 cases, and in the remaining 165 cases, they were acquitted. In 2020, 486 rape cases were registered, and the accused were convicted in only eight cases and acquitted in 77. In 2021, 589 rape cases were registered where 14 cases saw conviction, while the accused were acquitted in 134 cases.