On the trail of Roadside Romeos, Peeping Toms

KOCHI: The women in the city are keeping their fingers crossed at the ‘all-woman affair’ cracking the whip on roadside Romeos. The recently set up women’s wing of the Shadow Police is into action, peeking into every unusual activity and pulling up eve-teasers, in the city.
When  caught up with the fourmember female squad, all in plain clothes, they were highly enthusisastic about their new mission to root out the menace of eve-teasing from the city.
The new drive has helped to bring down the number of teasers, young and old alike, and peeping Toms, says Ambily, who is in the squad. “There are many people who come and tell us that we are doing a good job,” she laughs.
The women cops, who started monitoring people since last Onam, say that everyday brings in a new episode which helps them see various facets of people. “Once we caught a man sitting at the Subhash Bose Park with a 17-year-old girl. When we started questioning them, the man said that they are soon to get married. We checked his mobile phone. At that time he had been sending vulgar messages to three other girls. What was more? He was already married!” said Vinodha from Vaikom.
But what is quite irritating to these women is that some people don’t take them seriously at times.
Sindhu, the cop from Kumbalam, says: “Once I got a phone call at home. I told the caller that he had called the wrong number. He called me again and said he loved talking to me because I had a sweet voice. This time I told him I was a police woman. The phone calls became persistent. Finally, I told him to come and meet me at the Subhash Park. When I arrested him and called up the police jeep, he thought I was joking even then. “Madam, you are not a police. You are just a woman!” he said.”
The women cops feel that most number of women fall prey to eve-teasers at cinema halls. Surprisingly, there are also men who are victimised, they say.
“There are young girls who woo men at the cinemas,” said Maya, another cop from Cherthala.
The latest incident, these women say, was when they found a young girl roaming at the Marine Drive for nearly three months. Some days she came with friends, some days she was alone, later she was seen among a group of young men. “When we started questioning her we learnt that she was not wanted at home.
We put her in an orphanage,” the cops said.
On the notion that the police instigate the men to commit an offence which lead to their arrest, the four women say: “Such rumours are spread by the same men who are caught.”