In the wake of the Kolkata rape-murder case, a retired colonel recently took to social media to share why he supports his daughter’s decision to settle outside the country. In a post on X, user Col Sanjay Pande shared that his daughter completed her three years in graduation in Delhi. “We, then, lived in a super posh colony in South Delhi. College was 15 minutes walk of which 7 mins was within colony and seven on main road,” he said. 

The user went on to say that half the route towards her daughter’s college was inside a “very premium government auditorium” and the rest was on a footpath with “an institutional area wall”. “SAFEST right? No shops, no public, main road, no people and absolutely safe road,” he asked. In the following lines, he shared his daughter’s harrowing experiences.

Take a look at the post below: 

With so many posts on ‘women don’t come to India’ and ‘women go abroad’, here is my own story.

My daughter did her three years of graduation in Delhi. We, then, lived in a super posh colony in South Delhi. College was 15 minutes walk of which 7 mins was within colony and seven…

— Col Sanjay Pande (@ColSanjayPande) August 16, 2024

“Cars would slow down and guys would ask her to ‘accompany’! They would ask ‘rate’. I was sure someone would be doing the same with the guys sister, daughter, wife too. In second year I gave her a car exclusively. No stepping on road. Ever,” he shared. 

The retired colonel posted how when his daughter wanted to settle abroad, he agreed and supported her. “This was 13 years back. She has right to her life. She is abroad since then. I could afford. What about 95% plus who cannot?” he expressed. 

The post was shared just a day back. Since then, it has accumulated more than 878,000 views. 

Reacting to the post, one user shared, “I lived in South Delhi and each time I had to take an auto or cab at night because of late work, it gave me so much anxiety. Just waiting for the auto made so many men stop and stare. I can totally relate to her.”

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“It’s so sad really. As an Indian woman, I wish someone could teach our men to respect women as human beings. It has to start in every household, every school, every step of the way and I’m not sure how we make it happen but it needs to happen,” commented another. 

“It’s an everyday tale. The fact that a lot of people normalise it and say a woman should learn self defence or fight this or shame the abuser is illogical. Why should women not just step out and go about her day ?!” said a third user. 

“It’s common behavior. Used to happen routinely in the area outside our hospital, especially if standing at bus stop. One fellow was so persistent I removed the lab coat from my bag and showed him, saying ‘arre hasptal se hain, bhai’. He said ‘sorry sister’ and left,” shared a fourth X user. 

New Delhi:

A school in Delhi’s Greater Kailash area has been cordoned over an email threatening to blow up the school. Police haven’t found anything suspicious yet, but the search operation is still on.

“An email was received at a school in Delhi’s Greater Kailash area, threatening to blow up the school with a bomb. It is written in the email that a bomb was planted in the school yesterday. Nothing has been found in the investigation so far, legal action initiated,” Delhi police said in a statement.

The bomb threat comes just months after 150 schools in Delhi-NCR received a similar email suspected to have been sent from Hungary’s capital Budapest. According to a Delhi Police official, the IP address of these emails has been traced to Budapest and Delhi Police will soon be contacting its counterpart in Hungary for further investigation.

The IP (internet protocol) address is a unique identifying number assigned to every device connected to the internet.

New Delhi:

The first third gender candidate so far in the Lok Sabha polls in the national capital, filed his nomination papers from the South Delhi constituency on Friday.

26-year-old Rajan Singh, wearing a dhoti, cap and gold jewelleries, reached alone for filing nomination papers at the office of the returning officer of South Delhi in Saket.

“I am contesting this election to draw the attention of people as well as the authorities towards the problems faced by the third gender persons due to lack of separate civic amenities for them and also for their social acceptance and rights,” Rajan Singh told PTI.

Rajan Singh, a native of Bihar, lives in Sangam Vihar area of the city.

“I want the government to set up a national trans-gender commission so that our basic needs and necessities, such as separate washrooms and queues at government offices and service providers, and also at least one per cent reservation in jobs and education could materialise,” Rajan Singh said.

Rajan Singh has declared assets of Rs one lakh cash in hand and total movable assets worth Rs 15.10 lakh, including 200 gm gold and more than Rs 10,000, in a bank account.

Rajan Singh declared no immovable assets in the poll affidavit.

“My father was an electrician when we shifted to Delhi from Bihar in 2010. Life is tough for everyone, but for us it is tougher as we also have to fight for our identity, acceptance and equal rights.” Rajan Singh claimed it took three years to have an identity certificate because of lengthy procedure and said males and females do not have to provide any gender proof.

The filing of nomination papers for the Lok Sabha polls is an effort to make the presence of a third gender felt by the people and draw attention of the voters towards their rights, Rajan Singh said.

“If I win, I will address basic needs for the third gender,” Rajan  Singh said pointing there are even animal welfare boards for their protection but there is no such arrangement for the third gender people.

The third gender have been recognised on official papers but they are yet to be accepted by the society, Singh said questioning why there were no leaders in any major political party from the community, Rajan Singh added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)