Delhi Feels More Unsafe, Say Foreigners

According to Adla Oduba, a Kenyan pursuing her masters degree in philosophy from Jawaharlal Nehru University, sexual harassment and lewd comments were an everyday affair for her on the roads. But now, she feels scared.

"Earlier, I used to ignore them but now, I'm afraid. If people here have the audacity to rape a girl for an hour in a bus, they can surely follow me home," Oduba told IANS.

She said the average Delhi male thought of a female foreign student as an "easy catch".

"They think we are always available. From my landlord to the vendor, it's the same story," said Oduba who resides in a rented flat in south Delhi's Green Park area with her sister.

"Just because we go to parties with male friends and return late at night, our neighbours look down upon us," she said.

Aleydis Pieska from Holland, on her first visit to the city with her boyfriend, has already got a taste of Delhi's hospitality.

She was walking along the road with her friend in Paharganj when someone brushed his palm on her derriere.

"It was disgusting and I was furious. I saw his back. He ran after touching me and within seconds disappeared into the thick crowd," she told IANS.

The foreigners though agreed that strict policing can definitely bring about a major change.

"Police are there in public places but they need to be more active. They need to roam around. The minute their visibility increases, hooligans will misbehave," said Pieska.

Police said they have increased patrolling and were more visible on Delhi's roads, especially at night.

But Backmeier said she saw a lot of police in the posher markets of Delhi but not many in popular market places such as Paharganj or Karol Bagh which are always crowded.

Raisa Abramov from Ukraine, who loves to travel around the world, said such incidents happened in other cities too.

"It's a sad reality, but every metropolis is plagued by high incidents of rape today. You can't stop that from exploring the world. Just take precautions where required," said Abramov.