According to the National Crime Records Bureau 2017, crimes against women rose from 3,793 per million in 2016 to 3,886 per million in 2017. But in the age of gadgets crimes against women are not limited to the physical world. Hidden cameras in trial rooms, women’s hostel, and even in ladies toilets are secretly watching them posing a threat to women’s privacy.
One such incident occurred in Pune where a woman found a hidden camera in the washroom of BeHive restaurant on November 3. She took this incident to social media and posted a story on Instagram narrating the incident.
Talking to The Logical Indian she confirmed that the incident took place and it was only after her confrontation with the restaurant that the reality surfaced. According to her social media post, as soon as she found the camera in the washroom, she immediately alerted the restaurant management about it. She alleged that the camera was taken away while she was talking to the manager.
She said, “While I was talking to the manager along with three of my friends, I could sense the panic in his disposition. They got it removed in the meantime. It gave me the impression that the management was behind this scam and hence I was prodded to take this to social media. The manager asked us what we would take to hush ourselves down and later on, they also got my review on Zomato deleted and everything added up to the incident.”
When we reached out to the restaurant management, they said that it was a worker from their third party tie-up, Shraddha Facility Services who provide housekeeping services who put up the camera. Anagha Sankpal, PR and Marketing Head for BeHive restaurant said, “We interrogated the entire workforce present and when we found the culprit, we immediately filed an FIR with Hinjewadi Police Station against him. His details are still kept under cover until the complete investigation takes place.”
Two days after the incident, the victim and her friends were sent an apology letter, confirming that the culprit was under the police custody and a copy of FIR filed with Hinjewadi Police Station. They have also handed over the culprit’s phone to the police who is currently in the police custody. Both the apology letter and the copy of the FIR were shared with the victim who posted both the letters on Instagram.
However, on the victim’s confrontation with the manager, he seemed apprehensive and tried to curb the ruckus by hiding the phone. “I am not denying that the housekeeping workers could have been behind this but the management’s way of dealing with the emergency was not convincing,” the victim alleged.
The Logical Indian Take
It is indeed grave that women need to be on high alert every single time they come out of their homes. Such incidents have become rampant for the past 5-7 years. In 2015 Union Minister Smriti Irani had found a hidden camera in the trial room of clothing store ‘Fabindia’ in Goa. Recently there have been cases where people have found hidden cameras in the OYO rooms, trial rooms and restrooms of high-profile public spaces. It is time that the management of hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, and other public spaces take this into account and correct their security procedures.
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