A girl's ordeal with Noida Chain Snatchers

It's not unusual to get mugged, drugged or bugged, if not all at the same time, on the Delhi NCR roads. So the incident that I'm going to narrate may not sound "sensational", but it was enough to leave me shaken.

I'm in a profession, where my day starts with crime reports trickling in from different corners of the country even as we filter them according to the gravity (of the crime) and broadcast them, I was so far a "passive victim". Until it happened to me.

On February 21, around 9.30pm, I was on my way home from DLF Mall of India, Noida. I hired a cycle-rickshaw not because I wanted to save money, but due to the "terror" of cabbies and autowallahs — the huge number of molestation incidents involving cabs and autos have instilled a fear and distrust of them in my mind (at least it's easier to jump from a cycle-rickshaw).

But as we reached near Hotel Fortune Inn Grazia, a few hundred metres away from Sector 26, where I live, two men on a bike rode towards my rickshaw and suddenly grabbed the sling of my bag and tried to snatch it.

While the one riding pillion pulled at the bag, the other one accelerated the pace of the bike. Though caught unawares, I held tight to my bag (so tight that they couldn't go far enough). I also screamed loudly for help. The rickshaw puller too started to pedal faster. In all this, I was left almost hanging from the rickshaw with one hand clutching the bag and the other holding the sidebar of the rickshaw and trying to balance myself. All this went on for almost two minutes and finally the bikers sped away but not before giving one last hard pull at the bag following which I fell on the road with the rickshaw on top of me.

Good news: I was still clutching my bag. Bad news: I couldn't see their faces nor the number plate of the bike. The only thing I remember is that pillion rider was wearing a yellow check shirt.

A few people came to my rescue and offered me water to drink. One of them even took me to a nearby hospital for first-aid. On the way to hospital, he expressed surprise that something like this happened. "It never happens here".

Really?

This shook me even more — the perception of safety!

In the hospital —Kailash Healthcare — a staff told me that this was the fourth such case they were attending to that day.

I want to tell everyone — it's time to wake up! These kind of incidents and worse happen all the time here. These are not just everyday reports of road crimes but a life-threatening reality.

Don't trust the mean roads or the law enforcing agencies. The roads are not safe. I have learnt my lesson! more