AURANGABAD: President of the State Women Commission Vijaya Rahatkar said that though there has been a surge in harassment of women at their workplaces, many of the complaints filed with the commission turned out to be false.

Rahatkar was addressing a conference organised by the office of Superintendent of police (rural) at Rukmini auditorium in MGM campus on Monday. Titled ‘Stree Shakti Manthan’, over 1,000 government employees and college students attended the programme where discussion on crimes against women took centre-stage.

Besides Rahatakar, special inspector general (Aurangabad range) Prakash Mutyal, SP (rural) Arti Singh, zilla parishad president Devyani Dongaonkar and senior social worker Sindhutai Sapkal were present at the inauguration ceremony.

During her address, Rahatkar said that domestic violence still accounted for the highest number of cases reported to the state women commission followed by child abuse and cyber crimes.

Rahatkar, who is also the president of BJP’s Mahila Morcha—the national women wing of the party, cited the 2015 and 2016 figures of the National Crime Records Bureau and said that there has been an alarming rise in the number of crimes against women.

Holding women accountable for not inculcating proper values in their children, Rahatkar said, “Women waste time watching TV serials and fail to instil the right values in children.”

Talking about the cases of workplace harassment that are reported to the Commission, she said that most cases ended up to be a hoax. “Some women complain because they were asked to wear uniforms or asked to work till 6pm. Women should use their conscience before making such complaints,” she said.

Contrary to what Rahatkar said during her address, Sapkal held women’s clothes responsible for the crimes. “If you expose your body, men will get provoked. I wore navvari all my life while traveling round the world,” she said.

Singh said that the onus of ensuring women’s safety fell on police and appealed that women reach out to the police in case of need. She stressed on constant vigilance to prevent small crimes from turning into major ones.

Mutyal said that only 1% work has been done towards women empowerment. He asked women to get their doubts clarified at such events and support police by identifying signs of abuse in their children.

Dongaonkar called for instilling the same values in girls and boys. “Don’t just ask the girls to be careful, ensure that your boys are taught the right values,” she said.

